Nine Pirate singles, doubles qualify for State!
FULLERTON -- It will be a sea of Orange and Blue for the Orange Coast College women's tennis team as six Pirate singles and three doubles teams earned qualifying spots at the 3C2A state tournament after Thursday's performances at the Orange Empire Conference Tournament, hosted by Fullerton College.
Leading the way in singles for OCC was the No. 2 seed in the conference, Mebuki Kitakuni, who earned a first-round bye before cruising to a 6-0, 6-0 win.
At No. 4, Tori Varela followed the same course as Kitakuni and double-bageled her opponent, 6-0, 6-0 in her qualifying match.
A couple of "upsets" for the Pirates came from Sydney Friesan and Ava Bocek, who each topped seeded players to earn their trip to state. Friesan outlasted Riverside's Caroline Cocker in the opening round (6-4, 1-6, 10-7) before topping sixth-seeded Josie Miranda, 6-4, 6-4, in the qualifying round.
As for Bocek, the Pirate freshman earned a pair of straight-set wins over Fullerton's Alyssa Lopez (6-3, 6-4) and eighth-seeded Julianna Capraro of RCC (6-3, 6-2).
No. 5-seed Kei Cheng (6-3, 6-1) and No. 7-seed Kaylee Ho (6-3, 6-2) also earned state tournament berths with their qualifying wins.
The Pirate dominance continued in doubles play as the duos of Kitakuni/Varela, Ho/Bocek, Cheng/Breckyn Burg all won their qualifying matches.
Next up for the individual singles/doubles teams will be the 3C2A Men's and Women's Tennis State Championships, which take place April 24-27 at Ojai.
