Sekban/Tufenkian reach WSC semifinals; 6 Vaqueros make State

Emerson Sekban and Andrew Tufenkian went overtime to earn a quarterfinal win in the WSC men's tennis tournament on Saturday at Ventura College.

Sekban/Tufenkian, the No. 2 seed, edged Victor Ribeiro/Leo Santos of Ventura 9-7 to move into Friday's semifinals. Doubles sets go to the first team to reach eight games and win by two. They'll face No. 3 Michael Burr/Guenter Newman of Ventura on the Pirates' courts at 2 p.m. The doubles final will follow at 4 p.m.

Burr/Newman eliminated SBCC's Ryan Chung/Derek Lipanski 8-2 in the quarterfinals.

In singles, No. 2 Sasha Hedberg routed Newman 6-1, 6-0 in the quarters, then fell to No. 3 and defending state champion Hiro Koyanagi 6-2, 7-5 in the semifinals. Tufenkian lost a tight 6-3, 6-4 decision to Austin Lee of Bakersfield in the back draw.

Hedberg and Parker Turek got into the state tourney by winning a back draw doubles match over Masaki Kimura/John Robertson of Glendale 8-1.

The Vaqueros will send six players to the State Championships on April 21-24 at The Ojai Tournament. Hedberg and Sekban qualified in singles and three doubles teams will compete – Sekban/Tufenkian, Chung/Lipanski and Hedberg/Turek.