Glendale Community College men’s tennis eliminated in first round of playoffs

Following a 90-mile trip to Riverside County to compete in a Southern California Regional opening-round match, the members of the Glendale Community College men’s tennis team found itself up against some unfamiliar weather conditions.

Fifth-seeded Glendale, fresh off winning its first Western State Conference championship since 2005, also had to battle a tough opponent in fourth-seeded Mount San Jacinto.

Unfortunately for Glendale, it couldn’t overcome the wind and hot temperatures or Mount San Jacinto and saw its season wrap up with a 5-3 defeat.

“It was typical desert climate, I guess,” said Glendale Coach Bob MacKay, whose team finished 10-6, 6-0 in conference. “The temperatures were at least above 90 degrees and you had the wind blowing. It’s not something we are used to.

“We played as well as we could, but Mount San Jacinto has got a very good team. It was a close match throughout and we lost a couple of tough sets.”

Glendale made its eighth postseason appearance since MacKay took over the program in 2003. Mount San Jacinto, which placed second in the Pacific Coast Conference improved to 14-5 and will next participate in a second-round match Tuesday.

Glendale won two doubles sets and one in singles. Clayton Pauff and Cameron Braun worked together to pick up an 8-1 win for the Vaqueros, who also got an 8-6 victory from Oleg Simonyan and Dro Dermegerdichian (both formerly of Hoover High). Sophomore Dat Le cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory for Glendale in singles.

“Those guys hung in there,” MacKay said. “They got a lot better as the season went along.

“We had a good season overall. We won a conference championship and a lot of guys showed improvement along the way.”

Glendale will have several doubles team compete in the conference tournament Friday at Ventura College.