Andrzejcuzk and Keil-Long Win State Doubles Title; Benito Wins State Coach of the Year
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Andrzejcuzk and Keil-Long captured the first men's doubles title in school history.Oliver Andrzejcuzk and Torsten Keil-Long won the first individual Tennis State Championship in Men's Doubles for Cypress.
May 16, 2011
Cypress, Calif. - Cypress's top doubles team captures schools first ever individual Tennis State Championship in Men's Doubles. Sophomore Oliver Andrzejcuzk and partner Torsten Keil-Long made history for Cypress to add to an already remarkable season, while head coach Jeff Benito earned CCCAA State Tennis Coach of the Year honors for 2011.
After qualifying in the Southern California Regional Tournament played in Palm Desert the week before the Charger pair looked to vindicate earlier losses to teams they knew they could beat. Andrzejcuzk and Keil-Long were the #3 Seed from the South and opened against the #7 Seed from the North facing Andre Luis Almeida and David Cortina from Reedley College. Strong serving and taking advantage of early mistakes by Reedley helped Cypress lock up the first round match winning 6-2, 7-5. In the quarter-final match Cypress took on the South #8 Seed from Ventura College Dylan Cleary and Sasha Hedberg who just came off an upset of the North #1 Seed from Fresno City College. Strong serving again and head-ups doubles play gave Cypress another victory 6-2, 6-4.
In the State semi-finals the Chargers got a re-match with South No. 2 Seed Alex Sarkissian and Trevor Campbell from Glendale College. This was a re-match of their last meeting in the Ojai Tournament Final where Sarkissian/Campbell were able to upset Andrzejczuk/Keil-Long 7-6, 6-4. This time however, a well rested and better prepared Andrzejcuzk/Keil-Long held serve and were able to take advantage of key mistakes by Glendale to come out on top in three sets 7-6, 3-6, 6-3.
That victory set up a match against South No. 1 Seed Derek Siddigui and Jony Chai from Cerritos College. The Cerritos pair had recently won the Southern California Regional Tournament and had been the top ranked doubles team all year long. The Cerritos pair won the initial meeting between the two doubles teams to open the season at Cerritos College with a 7-6, 6-1 victory over Andrzejczuk/Keil-Long. As they did all tournament long, strong serving especially from Oliver Andrzejczuk, was the key for the match for Cypress.
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Benito was named CCCAA State Tennis Coach of the Year for 2011.The Charger pair got an early boost by breaking the serve of Jony Chai to take a commanding 5-2 lead in the first set and eventually served out that set. The second saw both teams raise their levels as it became harder to win games for both sides. Solid serving from Cypress kept them ahead and gutsy net play gave Cypress the advantage. Cerritos was able to break the serve of Torsten Keil-Long to go up 5-4 and looked to force a third and decisive set; however, Cypress was able to key in on good opportunities to go up 6-5 and then broke the serve of Jony Chai again to claim the match and the Men's Tennis State Doubles Championship. This is the first State Individual title for Cypress in tennis.
In only his fourth season as Cypress College's head coach, Jeff Benito was named CCCAA State Tennis Coach of the Year for 2011 after guiding the Chargers to a third straight Orange Empire Conference title and a top seed in the Southern California Regional Playoffs. Cypress finished the year with an overall 22-3 mark and a perfect 10-0 record in conference play for the second straight year.
