Men's tennis team falls to No. 1 Desert in regional semifinals

Men's tennis team falls to No. 1 Desert in regional semifinals

Irvine Valley's men's team saw the overall team portion of its season come to a close on Tuesday at College of the Desert in the semifinals of the So. Cal. Regional playoffs.

The Lasers, seeded third, played No. 1 College of the Desert tough all afternoon, but the Roadrunners had a little too much.

COD moved on to the regional final where it will host No. 2 Ventura on Saturday.

Irvine Valley's record went to 11-4 overall. Two of IVC's losses this year were to Desert.

COD (16-0) had its hands full from the beginning, but the Roadrunners held strong throughout.

In doubles play, College of the Desert got wins from the team of Elijah Strode and Raymundo Chavez, 8-4, on the first court. The team of Marco Alvarez and Matthew Shaw held off the IVC freshman duo of Pierre Vandegaer and Inaki Braun Simo, 8-6 at second doubles.

Irvine Valley picked up a win in doubles from the No. 3 team of freshmen Arthur Bellegy and Kiichi Ishida, 8-4.

Bellegy kept it up in singles, defeating Strode, 6-4, 6-2, on the first court to make things interesting.

But that was IVC's final victory of the day.

The Roadrunners earned wins on third, fourth and fifth singles courts in straight sets to wrap up the win.

Irvine Valley players will now head to the individual singles and doubles rounds of the CCCAA State Championships May 6-7 at Mt. SAC.

DOUBLES

1. Strode/Chavez (COD) def. Moros/Ishida (IVC), 8-4
2. Alvarez/Shaw (COD) def. Vandegaer/Braun Simo (IVC), 8-6
3. Bellegy/Chaix (IVC) def. Ma/Ishikawa (COD), 8-4

SINGLES

1. Arthur Bellegy (IVC) def. Elijah Strode (COD), 6-4 6-2
2. Marco Alvarez (COD) susp. Pierre Vandegaer (IVC), 6-4, 4-6 (sus.)
3. Raymundo Chavez (COD) def. Luis Moros (IVC), 6-2, 6-4
4. Eita Ishikawa (COD) def. Kiichi Ishida (IVC), 6-0, 6-1
5. Jiaxi Ma (COD) def. Inaki Braun Simo (IVC), 6-2, 6-3
6. Matthew Shaw (COD) susp. Victor Chaix (IVC), 5-7, 6-4 (sus.)