Glendale Community College men’s tennis team grinds through Western State Conference Tournament

After advancing five singles players and a pair of doubles teams into the Western State Conference Tournament, the Glendale Community College men’s tennis team saw first hand just how tough the event gets in the second day of competition Saturday.

When all was said and done, Gaspar Macalutas was the only Vaqueros singles player to definitively push on toward the Southern California Regional Tournament, which is set for April 25-28 as part of the Ojai Invitational, at Ventura College.

GCC’s Son Tran will have a chance to win his way in with a backdraw match in the final day of the conference tournament Friday, while both Glendale doubles teams — Macalutas and Andrew You and Tran and Santiago Segovia — had already stamped their tickets to Ojai by advancing to Saturday.

“Once you get to the quarters, there are no easy matches — it’s tough and demanding,” GCC assistant coach Chris Tissot said. “It’s a tough draw and we’re in one of the toughest conferences there is. For the guys that made it through, it’s something to be proud of.”

Macalutas was the only Vaqueros’ singles player to win his round-of-16 match with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Santa Barbara College’s Marius Moelsgaard. The freshman then fell in a hard-fought match to Ventura College’s Cameron Lee, 6-4, 6-4, in the next round.

Macalutas and You withdrew from their scheduled doubles match due to an injury You suffered in an earlier singles match that day.

Segovia and Tran lost an exhausting match that lasted more than three hours to Soufiane El Mhamdi and Carlo Bierbaum of Santa Barbara, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6.

Tran will return to Ventura College on Friday for a conference singles backdraw match with Bakersfield College’s Tim Roe to determine whose season will continue.

Tran lost in the round-of-16 match to Richard Catabona of LA Pierce College, 6-2, 6-0, but rebounded with a win over GCC teammate Phillip Lam, 7-5, 3-1. Lam retired early after dropping his opening match to Baumstark, 6-1, 6-3.

You lost both his singles matches Saturday to Bierbaum (7-5, 6-4) and Roe (6-1, 1-0 retired), as did GCC’s Dat Le, who fell to Thomas Douglas and Zach Pittman of Ventura College by scores of 6-1, 6-1.