No. 3 Men's Tennis Opens Conference Play With 8-1 Victory Over No. 10 OCC

CYPRESS, CA - The Cypress College men's tennis team hosted #10 Orange Coast College this Tuesday afternoon. The Pirates came into the match undefeated on the season at 6-0 but the Chargers halted their streak claiming an 8-1 victory.   

Orange Empire Conference play begins with singles and in singles the Chargers settled the match early. Sophomore Thomas Kyle started the Chargers off with his quick win at #3 singles moments later followed by fellow sophomore Vincent Reynaud.  Reynaud blanked his opponent today not surrendering a game. Freshman Gertjan De Wilder followed shortly after with his straight set win at #6 singles then by Captain Maximilien Blancaneaux holding off a tough opponent at the top singles flight.  Blancaneaux was down 0-3 in the second set and reeled off 6 straight games to finish his match. Freshman Petrus Botha continued his stellar play clinching the match for the Chargers at #5 singles. Orange Coast avoided the sweep when Quac Tran captured the point at #4 singles. Yubo Chen had opportunities to win his match and made a huge come back down 2-5 in the second set to force a tie-breaker but ultimately fell to Tran. 

In doubles it was all Cypress. The dynamic duo of Ingmar Remmerswaal and Gertjan De Wilder shook off their last loss by securing the first point for Cypress again in so many games. The two Toms, Thomas Davies and Thomas Kyle fought off a pesky team from Coast to take their first victory together as a doubles combination. Finally, Maximilien Blancaneaux and Vincent Reynaud finished off the match for the Chargers helping Cypress sweep all the doubles points.   

"We played well today. We did what we needed to do to win the match.  Of course there's things that we can improve on but I believe that we are progressing as we should be together as a team. These gentlemen work very hard day in and day out and I'm extremely proud of all of them." 

Cypress his the road to face district rival Fullerton College on Thursday, February 23. Next week Cypress will face it's ultimate test traveling to #1 Ranked and Defending State Champion Irvine Valley College. 

Final Scores: Cypress College 8, Orange Coast College 1

Singles: 

1)  Maximilien Blancaneaux (Cyp) def.  Brandon Baar (OCC)  6-2, 6-3

2)  Vincent Reynaud (Cyp) def.  Noah Proheska (OCC)  6-0, 6-0

3)  Thomas Kyle (Cyp) def.  Peter Hariri (OCC)  6-1, 6-0

4)  Yubo Chen (Cyp) lost to Quac Tran (OCC)  6-4, 7-6

5)  Petrus Botha (Cyp) def.  Kendal Harris (OCC)  6-4, 6-1

6)  Gertjan De Wilder (Cyp) def.  Ross Ewart (OCC)  6-2, 6-2

7)  Samuel Whitehill (Cyp) def.  Jamie Sabate (OCC)  6-1, 6-1

Doubles: 

1)  Blancaneaux/Reynaud (Cyp)  def.  Baar/Hariri (OCC)  8-5

2)  De Wilder/Remmerswaal (Cyp) def.  Tran/Harris (OCC)  8-4

3)  Davis/Kyle (Cyp) def.  Prohaska/Ewart (OCC)  8-3

Stay connected with the Chargers through social media. Follow Cypress College Athletics on Twitter @CypressChargers. Check in with the Chargers on Facebook/CypressChargers and on Instagram @CypressChargers.