Espinoza/Castillo Make All-IEAC; Cao/Niccum Join Them at State Tourney
City's No. 1 doubles team of Brian Espinoza and Eduardo Castillo earned All-Inland Empire Athletic Conference honors by advancing to the semifinals of the conference championship tournament and also qualified for the state championship tournament. Espinoza also earned All-IEAC in singles by making it to the quarterfinals. Porter Niccum and Danny Cao are also headed to state by qualifying in doubles.
City's No. 1 doubles team of Brian Espinoza and Eduardo Castillo earned All-Inland Empire Athletic Conference honors by advancing to the semifinals of the conference championship tournament and also qualified for the state championship tournament. Espinoza also earned All-IEAC in singles by making it to the quarterfinals. Porter Niccum and Danny Cao are also headed to state by qualifying in doubles.
Espinoza and Castillo made it to the doubles semifinals by winning their first round match, 8-0, over Victor Valley's Lopez/Phung and their second round match, 8-2, over Mt. San Antonio's Van Zee/Perez. They then fell to College of the Desert duo Corse/Eita, 8-5.
In singles action, Espinoza advanced to the quarterfinals by winning his first two matches over Imperial Valley's Victor Venegas (8-0) and El Camino's Joshua Holman (6-0, 6-0) without dropping a game as he earned a spot at the state championship. Castillo won his first round match, but lost in the second round, and then recovered to win his consolation match, 6-1 and 6-0, over El Camino's Ben Horodner to qualify for state.
City's No. 2 doubles team of Cao and Niccum also qualified for state by winning their consolation qualifier match, 8-4, over El Camino's Uribe/Martinez.
The first two days (April 27-28) of the men's state championship tournament will take place at various locations in Oxnard or Ventura. The third day of play will be held at Ojai Athletic Club and the finals will be played at Libbey Park in Ojai on April 30.
Draws will be available one week prior to the start of the tournament.