Torrey Mateljan & Maxelle Bernie Reach Doubles Quarterfinals at CCCAA Individual State Championships
Nearly the entire Riverside City College women's tennis team qualified for the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Individual Singles and Doubles State Championships in Ojai, CA. The first two days of action saw many upsets and downfalls as freshman duo Torrey Mateljan and Maxelle Bernie are the only two Tigers left standing after reaching the quarterfinal round in doubles play.
The top Tiger duo entered into the tournament ranked sixth overall and earned a first-round bye. They began with a round of 64 victory over Modesto's unranked Silena Sierra and Gavrielle Soria by the final count of 6-1, 6-0. They followed by facing their first ranked opponent of the tournament comprised of Foothill's Thanish Hemika Arul Kumar and Mailinh Troung. They made quick work of them by earning a 6-1, 6-1 victory.
Sierra's unranked Kristin Patterson and Tsukino Watanabe worked their way from the round of 128 to meet Matlejan and Bernie, but the Riverside duo quickly ended their Cinderella story with a two set victory reading 6-4, 6-1. The pair advances to the quarterfinals with the victory.
Eighth ranked duo consisting of sophomore Heather Graf and freshman Yasmin Johnson advanced to the round of 16, but fell to Chabot's Lisa Bargman and Stephanie Wong in two sets. Sophomore Emilia Lopez and freshman Hannah Stevenson, who entered into the tournament as the 16th seed, advance to the round of 32, but ultimately fell.
In singles, Bernie was the highlight of the group after reaching the round of 16 entering into the tournament unranked. She defeated the 6th seed in the round of 64 and the 12th seed in the round of 32, but fell to the second-overall ranked player in the round of 16. Mateljan mirrored her effort by reaching the round of 16, but experienced an easier route. She defeated a pair of unranked opponents in the second and third rounds, but fell to the third-ranked player in the round of 16.