GCC men, women advance in WSC

GLENDALE — With their respective regular seasons now a memory, the members of the Glendale Community College men’s and women’s tennis teams are seeking individual excellence.

Both Vaquero teams began their pursuit Friday at their Western State Conference Tournaments. The men’s team competed in Santa Barbara, while the women participated in Ventura.

Each squad got some excellent first-day results with four men’s singles players and three doubles teams advancing and four women’s singles athletes and a pair of doubles teams moving on to the round-of-16 today.

In the men’s competition, Glendale college, which saw its season end Tuesday with a 5-0 first-round loss to powerhouse College of the Desert in a Southern California Regional match, saw second-seeded Rony Yeghnazary, eighth-seeded Ryan Stanbury, Joey Tresierras and Paul Nagapetyan pick up singles victories in the quarterfinals after earning first-round byes in matches played at Perching Park and Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club.

“They were able to win because they were better than their opposition,” said Glendale college Coach Bob MacKay, whose team went 14-7 and 8-2 in conference this season. “We had to go out there and battle to win some tough matches.

“We are going to have to do more of the same things today. We’ll again have tough matches, but it’s time to move on to the next step and you do that by making things happen.”

On the women’s side, the Vaqueros competed at Ventura College and Camino Real Park in Ventura.

Sarah Aguilar, Monique Palmera and fifth-seeded Meldia Hacobian all drew first-round byes in singles before capturing their respective quarterfinal matches.

“I’m ecstatic about our results,” said Glendale college women’s Coach Terry Coblentz, whose team finished its season at 7-8 and 5-7 in conference. “I think all of our players were able to step it up another notch.

“They had some good ground strokes that helped open up the court. It’s now single elimination, but it’s also about building blocks.”

In men’s competition, Yeghnazary had to rally against Juan Arteaga of Ventura College, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-4) before Arteaga was forced to default before the third set began because of a injury. Yeghnazary will face Elliot Markowitz of Santa Barbara City College at 10 a.m. today.

Stanbury came through with a 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 win against Santa Barbara City College’s Zackary Scott. Stanbury will next meet Ventura College’s Romiana Scipione today.

Tresierras posted a convincing 6-1, 6-1 win against Matias Castro of L.A. Pierce College. He will next face fifth-seeded Ryan Sweeney of Santa Barbara City College today.

Nagpetyan earned an easy 6-0, 6-0 win against Javier Rios of Bakersfield College. Nagapetyan will battle sixth-seeded Mattias Muster of Ventura College today.

Marko Gortinski, Alex Matevosian and Sevag Bairamian of Glendale college all won their first-round matches before falling in the quarterfinals.

In doubles action, Glendale college’s teams of Yeghnazary and Matevosian and Stanbury and Tresierras each had a first-round bye Friday.

Yeghnazary and Matevosian, the No. 5 seed, will take on Juan and Paul Arteaga of Ventura College around 1 p.m. today.

The seventh-seeded duo of Stanbury and Tresierras will meet Scipione and Tom Ihaga of Ventura College today.

Gortinski and Nagapetyan began Friday with a 6-2, 6-1 win against Michael Marquez and Jose Angulo of Allan Hancock College. They will next face the eighth-seeded team of Wetterholm and Kevin Lott.

On the women’s side, Aguilar came through with a 6-3, 6-2 win against Sarah Anderson of Santa Monica City College.

Palmera earned a 6-3, 6-3 win against Carla Dauden of Santa Barbara City College, while Hacobian, a Glendale High graduate, posted a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 win against Ventura College’s Katya Wellborn.

Armine Balayan of Glendale college notched a 6-0, 6-1 first-round win against Allan Hancock College’s Joanna Toombs before being handed a 6-2, 6-1 loss by Julia Cobian of Santa Monica City College.

Glendale college’s Minelli Ebrahimi started off well with a 6-3, 6-2 win against Hallie Sellers of Ventura College. However, she then suffered a 6-2, 6-0 loss to Maty Martinez of Allan Hancock College.

Veronica Sandoval and Alex Tzvetanova of Glendale college each fell in their first-round matches. In doubles, Hacobian and Palmera had a first-round bye. Aguilar and Ebrahimi started off with a 6-1, 6-0 win against a team from Santa Barbara City College.

Balayan and Tzvetanova fell, 6-2, 6-1, against a team from Cuesta College.

Those who advance today, will next participate in the Southern California Individual Regionals, which will be held April 30-May 2.