The No. 1 ranked American River College men’s tennis team advanced to the semifinals of the NorCal championships after a 5-0 win over Modesto Junior College on Tuesday.
The remaining four matches were cancelled after ARC clinched a majority of the wins over the #8 ranked Pirates, moving its overall record to 15-2 on the season.
Coach Bo Jabery-Madison said that the team was able to pick it up after suffering a somewhat slow start.
“We came out a little flat in doubles at the one and the two, but they picked it up,” Jabery-Madison said. “I thought we played with a lot of energy and enthusiasm in singles. I thought it was a good performance.”
The team was tired and fatigued after competing in the Big 8 Conference tournament over the weekend, barely missing out on capturing any titles.
“Alex (Meliuk) got to the finals, after a great semifinal win over a Sean Alves from Folsom College in one of the best matches I’ve seen at the community college level, but you know he just didn’t have enough energy for the final,” Jabery-Madison said.
Meliuk said that the team performed well in the tournament, but missed opportunities in the final.
“We all did pretty well and I made it to the finals,” Meliuk said. “Unfortunately, I lost in the finals. I was unlucky and had chances to win, but it was not my day.”
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Jabery-Madison still considered the tournament a success despite not bringing home the trophies.
“We didn’t get the tile in either one, but overall we got four guys qualified for Ojai and all three of our doubles teams,” Jabery Madison said. “When you look at it from top to bottom, great tournament for us.”
The team has rebounded again by winning all the doubles matches and winning 2 singles matches against Modesto in the NorCal tournament.
Sophomore Dylan King thinks that the team started slowly and that’s something that needs to be addressed before the next match.
“I think we started a little slow, trying to find that momentum from the last game,” King said. “I think that’s something we need to work on before the next match is coming out as a unit at the beginning.”
Sophomore TJ Auckland said that it was nice to be recognized as the No. 1 seed and that the team needs to stay the course in order to keep playing well.
“We just need to keep doing what we’re doing, hit the practices hard, rest up and keep up with the game plan,” Auckland said.
ARC’s next match is Tuesday hosting No. 5 ranked Chabot College.
