Glendale Community College men’s tennis solves Bakersfield again

GLENDALE — Having a surplus of depth has been a blessing throughout the season for the members of the Glendale Community College men’s tennis team.

It’s led to the Vaqueros posting a winning record and it’s helped move them one step closer to accomplishing something for the first time since 2005 — winning the Western State Conference championship.

“It’s been a huge thing to have,” said Glendale Coach Bob MacKay, whose team posted a hard-fought 6-3 conference home victory Tuesday against Bakersfield. “A lot of the teams in conference have plenty of depth, but we have a lot of it from top to bottom.

“We’ve been very fortunate to have it in doubles.”

Glendale (8-2, 4-0 in conference) swept the two-match season series against Bakersfield (0-4 overall and in conference), which included a 6-3 road win Feb. 18. Glendale can wrap up the conference crown Thursday with a home victory against L.A. Pierce (2-1 in conference). Since 2006, Ventura (1-2 in conference) has won or shared every conference championship.

Things appear on the verge of turning in the Vaqueros’ favor.

“It’s nice to know that we actually control our own fate,” said MacKay, whose team picked up four singles victories Tuesday to improve to 4-1 in its last five matches. “This was a big win today against a team that came prepared to play.

“If you look at the scores, you can see how it was a tough match. I think it was anything but a cakewalk.”

The Vaqueros got singles wins from Hosep Orojian, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, Dat Le, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), Cameron Braun, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, and Santiago Segovia, 6-2, 6-0, to built a 4-2 advantage entering doubles competition. The Renegades received a doubles win each from Vitor Ikeda, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, and Samuel Ramirez, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3.

Glendale, which qualified for the Southern California Regionals after tying for second in conference last season, got doubles victories from Le and Son Tran, 8-3, and Braun and Clayton Pauff, 8-1.

Le, one of three returners, said the Vaqueros looked to close out the Renegades quickly in doubles.

“We knew we had to be able to pull it off,” Le said. “[Bakersfield] was tough the first time we played them, but they were harder this time.

“Now, we have a chance to go out and win conference. It would be great to be able to do that.”