Knights Win 4th Straight; Ranked No. 9 in SoCal

The Knights played a home doubleheader on Thursday and dominated Imperial Valley with two 8-1 victories to improve to 6-1 in the IEAC and 7-3 overall. The Knights, who have won four in a row, are now ranked No. 9 in Southern California according to the first Intercollegiate Tennis Associaton rankings released on March 8.

City won all six doubles matches in the doubleheader and also claimed 10 of the 12 singles matches against IVC. The No. 1 doubles team of Brian Espinoza and Eduardo Castillo earned an 8-1 win over Venegas/Zapata in the first match, then defeated Venegas/Ibarra, 8-2, in the second match.

The No. 2 duo of Danny Cao and Porter Niccum got past Ibarra/Diaz, 8-5, in the first match of the day. Luc DeMartini and Ramon Guzman took care of IVC's Romero/Dover, 8-2, in No. 3 singles.

Head Coach Brandon Lupian mixed the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams up in the second match and still ended up with wins. DeMartini/Niccum edged Zapata/Diaz, 9-7, in No. 2 doubles, and Cao/Guzman won their No. 3 doubles match, 8-3 over Romero/Dover.

In No. 1 singles, City's Espinoza defeated Robert Ibarra, 6-0 and 6-2, and then earned a 6-0 and 6-0 win over Victor Venegas. 

Castillo only dropped one game in his two No. 2 singles matches as he defeated Venegas, 6-0 and 6-0, then Carlos Zapata, 6-1 and 6-0.

Porter Niccum also got two wins on the day at the No. 3 spot, getting a 6-0 and 6-3 win over Zapata, and a 6-1 and 6-1 victory over Ibarra.

Cao, at No. 4 singles, played the Carlos Diaz twice and got a 6-2 and 6-2 win in the first match, then a 6-0 and 6-0 sweep in the second match. 

City's DeMartini defeated Marcus Romero, 6-2 and 6-2, then won 6-1 and 6-0 over Julian Dover, both at the No. 5 spot.

Ramon Guzman fought hard, but lost his first No. 6 singles match to Dover, 6-4 and 6-4, then lost to Romero, 6-1 and 6-0.

The Knights currently have the most wins in the conference, but are in second place behind College of the Desert. 

City's next match will be on Tuesday, March 14 at Mt. San Antonio. It's the second meeting of the season with the Knights edging the Mounties, 5-4, at home on Feb. 16