The Lady Roadrunners tennis team finished off their regular season schedule with a tough match against San Diego Mesa College on April 7 at Rio Hondo College.

The Roadrunners fell to San Diego Mesa 4-5 after a rain delayed caused the match to be put on hold for a couple of hours.

Rio Hondo’s No. 5 Cindy Lai and No. 6 Samantha Camarena were both victorious in each of their singles matches.

In doubles, Rio Hondo’s number two, Evelyn Sorrato and Berenice Perez defeated their opponents along with their No. 3 doubles team of Mindy Lujan and Astrid Monroe.

Unfortunately, Rio Hondo lost the match when their No. 1 doubles team of Bobbie Weaver and Jessica Diaz were defeated by their opponent, losing a close match at 9-7.

Rio Hondo previously hosted Long Beach City College where the Roadrunners defeated their opponent in nearly all of their matches, winning the match 8-1 overall.

After Long Beach did not allow their No. 1 and No. 2 to travel with the team due to personal reasons, Rio Hondo substituted out their No. 1 Sorrato and moved their entire lineup up.

Rio Hondo was victorious across the board in singles matches with the exception of one match.

Lai stepped into the No. 2 spot where she defeated her opponent 6-1 in the first set, and 7-6 in a close second set.

Camarena was defeated, 6-3, in her first set but rallied back to defeat her opponent 6-1 in the second set.  The match went into a third set where she established her dominance ending the match with a 10-5 victory.

Competing for only the second time this season in a singles match, Lujan did not let nerves get the better of her as she defeated her opponent in straight sets with a 6-1, 6-2 victory.

Selena Duenez also competed in her first singles match this season and defeated her Long Beach opponent in two sets at 6-1, 6-0.

The Lady Roadrunners were victorious in all three of their doubles matches with the third seated doubles game being a victory by forfeit by Long Beach.

Rio Hondo’s No. 1 doubles team of Serrato and Perez dominated their opponent with an 8-1 victory.  Number two doubles team of Mindy Lujan and Astrid Monroe finished of the day with an 8-4 over their opponent.

In a previous match Rio Hondo took on Cerritos College, the third ranked team in the South Coast Conference.

The Roadrunners put up a good fight against the women of Cerritos College but were unable to escape defeat.

Rio Hondo’s number one singles player Serrato put up a good fight but was defeated by Stef Flores of Cerritos 6-2 and 6-0.

Cerritos went on to defeat Rio Hondo in a majority of the singles matches and claimed victory in all three doubles matches as well.

The Lady Roadrunners went 0-2 against Cerritos College this season.

Rio Hondo also travelled to Victor Valley College and returned home with a 9-0 win.

Serrato shut out and defeated Victor Valley’s No. 1 singles player 6-0, 6-0.

Lujan substituted in for Jessica Diaz in the No. 2 singles match defeating her opponent in straight sets as well.

Weaver and Lai were both victorious in their singles matches and Victor Valley forfeited the last two singles matches of the day.

The doubles duos of Diaz and Weaver, and Serrato and Perez defeated their opponent with the No. 3 doubles team of Lujan and Monroe winning by forfeit.

The Roadrunners recently competed in the Conference Tournament at Cerritos College; where all the athletes of the South Coast Conference competed against one another to determine who would compete in Ojai at the State Championship event.

Coach Karen Unger is excited to attend the tournament with her team and is proud of the fact that the doubles team of Bobbie Weaver and Jessica Diaz has qualified to compete in the tournament this year.

“It is huge that we have a team who will be competing in Ojai this year,” Unger said. “It’s always a good time for the girls”.

As the season comes to an end Unger remains pleased with the way her team progressed this season.

“I am very happy with the way we fought in a very tough conference against some of the top colleges in the state,” she said. “I am so happy with the way the girls got along with one another and I’m going to miss my sophomores very much”.

The program will graduate out two sophomores, Mindy Lujan and Bobbie Weaver.