The Cerritos College men’s tennis winning streak of 34 matches in a row in South Coast Conference play was brought to a grinding halt by a newcomer to the conference, Mt. San Jacinto College.

Last Thursday’s match between Cerritos College and Mt. San Jacinto College may have come down to the No. 3 doubles match, but there were many other factors contributing to the loss.

Freshman Tim Lee, who usually plays No. 2 singles, was sick with the flu during the match-up.

He attempted to play but retired after losing the first set in a tiebreaker, 4-7.

Coach Alvin Kim said, “I recommended that he retire before the match started, but Lee managed to tough it out playing doubles for us.”

The hard times didn’t stop for the Falcons there.

Jason Wall, who had faced some tough losses this year, dealt with another close loss to Mt. San Jacinto’s Bruno Reich.

Wall, No. 3 singles, took the first set, 7-6, then lost the second set, 4-6, and in a third set tiebreaker Bote, closed it out, scoring 11 points to Wall’s 9.

“Wall is our No. 3 singles. He has just had really bad luck against Cypress College,” Kim added. “He lost the third set tiebreaker. It happened against Glendale, again against Riverside and again on Thursday. It’s been a tough season for Wall this season.”

With all of the hardships that the Falcons have faced, there have been some impressive plays by other Falcon tennis teammates such as Carlos Gomez and Nik Bote.

Gomez, the No. 5 singles defeated Richard Tetteh of Mt. San Jacinto 6-3, 3-6, and winning the third set tiebreaker, 11-9.

Bote beat out Carlos Marquez of Mt. San Jacinto in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.

Kim said, “Bote played great. Bote normally plays No. 4 singles, will move up this week, playing No. 2 singles against El Camino on Tuesday and No. 3 singles against College of the Desert on Thursday.”