San Diego slips past Vaqueros, 5-4

Andrew Tufenkian posted a pair of wins in his season debut on Friday but SBCC dropped a 5-4 heartbreaker at San Diego City in a nonconference men's tennis match.

The Vaqueros fell to 0-2 and the Knights improved to 2-4.

Tufenkian, a former Dos Pueblos High standout, beat Logan Rinder 7-6 (4), 6-3 at No. 2 singles and teamed up with Emerson Sekban to take the No. 1 doubles 8-6. After falling behind 5-2, Sekban/Tufenkian won six of the last seven games.

Willem Decker got the other singles win for SBCC, outlasting David Orturo 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (4) at No. 5. Decker erased a 5-1 deficit in the third set and also won in doubles with Jun Zhao.

San Diego went 4-2 in singles and needed just one point in doubles to win the match. They got it at the No. 2 spot when Daniel Villa Rosa/Abraham Vargas rallied for an 8-5 triumph.

"We played better tennis today," said coach Randy Moharram. "Andrew played great in his first college match and I was proud of the way Will rallied to win the third set. We need to continue to get better every day."

The Vaqueros will complete their three-day San Diego road trip on Saturday when they take on San Diego Mesa at 1 p.m.

Singles
1. Daniel Villa Rosas, SD, def. Emerson Sekban  6-2, 6-4 
2. Andrew Tufenkian, SBCC, def. L ogan Rinder 7-6 (4), 6-3
3. Dale Gutierrez, SD, def. Ryan Chung 6-0, 6-4
4. Patrick Meier, SD,  def. Parker Turek 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (6)
5. Willem Decker, SBCC, def. David Orturo 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (4)
6. Jacques Desmet, SD, def. Jun Zhao 6-1, 6-1

Doubles
1. Sekban/Tufenkian, SBCC, def. Rinder/Gutierrez 8-6
2. Villa Rosas/Abraham Vargas, SD, def. Chung/Turek 8-5
3. Decker/Zhao, SBCC, def. Meier/Desmet 9-7