Pirates pick up crucial win over Tigers, 7-2
COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College women's tennis team earned the first big win of the Orange Empire Conference portion of the schedule with a 7-2 win over visiting Riverside City College on Thursday at the OCC Tennis Complex.
The win keeps the Pirates undefeated at 12-0 overall, 3-0 in the OEC, while the loss drops the Tigers to 8-2 overall, 3-1 in conference play.
The key to victory for the Pirates came in doubles play, when the No. 1 duo of Mebuki Kitakuni and Chantel Kamel had a comeback for the ages. Trailing 7-2, the Pirates top twosome rallied with five straight wins to even things at 7. Coast then fell behind 8-7 and 0-40 in the next game, only to win five straight points to even the set at 8. In the tiebreaker, Kitakuni/Kamel fell behind 4-6 in the race to 7, before back-to-back Pirate points evened things at 6. Then, again trailing, 6-7, Kitakuni/Kamel ripped off three straight points to pull out the improbable 9-7 win.
In No. 3 doubles, OCC's Minami Saito and Amanda Montanez had the reverse type of match as their No. 1 doubles teammates. Coast led 6-1, only to see Riverside rally to grab a 7-6 lead in the match. Coast tied things at 7, then fell behind 7-8 before forcing an 8-8 tiebreaker, where the Pirate duo rolled to a 7-0 win, giving OCC two crucial wins in doubles play.
It was a bit less dramatic in singles play for the Pirates as Coast earned four straight-set wins from Kitakuni (6-2, 6-3), Kamel (6-1, 6-1), Saito (6-0, 6-0) and Ava Bocek (6-2, 6-1). Kaylee Ho needed a third-set tiebreaker to top her RCC opponent, winning 4-6, 6-1 (10-3).
The Pirates will head to San Diego City College on Friday to take on the Knights at 2 p.m. before hosting Chabot College on Saturday, beginning at 12 p.m.
