Men's Tennis Lose Two Close Ones to Victor Valley

The men's tennis team continued conference play against the Victor Valley College Rams with a double-header on Thursday, March 10th, which included the regularly scheduled contest along with a make-up match from February 15th that was postponed due to rain.

In the first match, the #1 doubles team of Andy Gibson and Gerson Rivera-Garcia defeated VVC's Hunter McBride and Tanner McBride by a score of 8-6.  MSJC's #2 doubles team of Patrick Bellah and John Gagnepain won in decisive fashion, 8-2, over Jaylon Bertz and Joseph Ward, marking Bellah's first doubles victory as an Eagle.  On the singles side, Gibson shutout H. McBride 6-0,6-0 and Gagnepain defeated Bertz 6-4, 6-4.  The Eagles lost match #1, four sets to five.

Heavy winds picked-up at the start of the second match as Gibson and Rivera-Garcia won the #1 doubles set 8-1, behind strong service games and aggressive net-play.  In singles action, Gibson beat T. McBride by a score of 6-1, 6-3 and Gagnepain needed three long sets to out-duel Bertz by a final score of 3-6, 6-2, 10-4.  At the number four position, MSJC's Bellah notched his first singles victory of the season by outplaying VVC's Edward Duarte 6-4, 6-0.  MSJC fell in the second match, four sets to five.

"Patrick [Bellah] moved extremely well and was able to hit the ball very consistently in the heavy winds," commented MSJC Head Coach Gregg Hepner.  "It was great to see him get his first victories in both singles and doubles today."

Earlier in the week, the men lost on the road to Imperial Valley College, 2-7, dropping their overall season record to 1-10.