Pirates Retain Hank Pfister Cup in North/South Challenge

The Pirates' men's tennis team retained the Hank Pfister Cup Saturday with a pair of victories at the North/South Challenge at the Seven Oaks Country Club in Bakersfield. VC swept Chabot 9-0 before defeating American River 7-2.. Jinsei Tajima, Philemon Jabin and Julian Tellez all recorded two singles wins and a doubles victory on the day to lead the Pirates (11-0, 5-0), who, along with Irvine Valley and College of the Desert, remain one of three undefeated teams in the state.

In Saturday's opener, the Pirates blanked the Gladiators from the East Bay. Eduardo Gorgonio Criscuolo and Lucas Abreau recorded an 8-1 win in No. 2 doubles while Santino Serralonga and Valentino Oggero, and Tellez and Robinson Pelluault each posted 8-1 victories in Nos. 1 and 3 doubles, respectively.

Pelluault and Tiago Galoppo each had love and love wins in Nos. 4 and 6 singles, respectively, while Tellez won his No. 3 singles match. Criscuolo prevailed in No. 5 singles 6-2, 6-0 and Jabin triumphed by the same score in the No. 2 slot. Tajima had a 6-1, 6-3 decision to complete the sweep by the Pirates.

The tournament finale proved to be more difficult for Ventura as American River is one of the top teams in Northern California. The Beavers took a 1-0 lead with a win in No. 2 doubles before Tajima and Jabin evened the match with a victory in No. 1 doubles, 8-4. Criscuolo and Abreau then outlasted their opponents for a 9-8 triumph in No. 3 doubles, putting VC ahead entering singles play.

The Pirates dominated singles play, taking five points from ARC. Serralonga captured the No. 2 slot with a love and one win while Oggero won in No. 5 singles, two and love. Tellez prevailed in the No. 6 singles match, 6-2, 6-1 and Tajima rolled to a 6-4, 6-0 victory in the No. 1 slot. Jabin finished on the plus side of his 6-4, 6-1 triumph in No. 3 singles while Abreau lost a heartbreaker in the No. 4 match, 7-5, 4-6, 11-9.

Ventura, who has already clinched the Western State Conference title, will finish out the regular season on Thursday March 23 at Bakersfield and Friday March 24 at Orange Coast. 

Ventura 9, Chabot 0

Doubles
1. Santino Serralonga/Valentino Oggero (VC) def. Quinonez/Schneider  (CC) 8-2
2. Criscuolo/Lucas Abreau (VC) def. Nguyen/Wu (CC) 8-1
3. Tellez/Pelluault (VC) def. Moeckelmann/Bedoya (CC), 8-2

Singles
1. Jinsei Tajima (VC) def. Darian Quinonez (CC), 6-1, 6-3
2. Philemon Jabin (VC) def. Stefan Schneider (CC), 6-2, 6-0
3. Julian Tellez (VC) def. Timon Nguyen (CC), 6- , 6-
4. Robinson Pelluault (VC) def. Grahm Moeckelmann (CC) 6-0, 6-0
5. Eduardo Gorgonio Criscuolo (VC) def. Jason Wu (CC) 6-2, 6-0
6. Tiago Galoppo (VC) def. Gonzalo Bedoya (CC) 6-0, 6-0

Ventura 7, American River 2

Doubles
1. Tajima/Jabin (VC) def. Lin/Jack Hall (ARC) 8-4
2. Serralonga/Oggero (VC) lost to Hill/Ravi Nelson (ARC) 8-3
3. Eduardo Gorgonio Criscuolo/Abreau (VC) def. Jason Hom/Timmons (ARC), 9-8

Singles
1. Jinsei Tajima (VC) def. Lenny Lin (ARC), 6-4, 6-0
2. Santino Serralonga (VC) def. Shane Timmons (ARC), 6-0, 6-1
3. Philemon Jabin  (VC) def. Parker Perdue (ARC), 6-4, 6-1
4. Lucas Abreau  (VC) lost to Spencer Hill (ARC) 7-5, 4-6, 11-9
5. Valentino Oggero (VC) def. Julian Bilbao (ARC) 6-2, 6-0
6. Julian Tellez (VC) def. Patrick Wall (ARC) 6-2, 6-1