Men’s tennis preview: Pirates’ team small, but talented

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - The one nice thing about a team the size of the Orange

Coast College men’s tennis team: plenty of room on the bench for Coach

Tandy Gillis.

“I started with 10 players, but for one reason or another, I’m down to

five,” Gillis said. “Hopefully, we’ll get one of our injured players back

for our sixth singles and doubles player.

That player is lone sophomore Phong Luu who is recovering from a

collapsed lung.

“He’s had surgery on it and we hope to have him back in a month or so,”

Gillis said. “If we get him back, we might have a shot at a couple of the

top teams in the conference.”

What the team lacks in population, it more than makes up in overall

ability.

Leading the troops is freshman Marcel Brouwer who came to OCC from

Holland.

“He’s big and tall and he’s got great backcourt skills,” Gillis said. “I

wish he’d come up to the net more often because he’s got great court

coverage. As a No. 1, we’ll have to see how mentally tough he is down the

stretch.”

Gillis is also pleased with the play of freshmen Mason Wei and Shakti

Chemitiganti. Both will compete for the No. 2 and 3 singles spots as well

as play with Brouwer at No. 1 doubles.

“My plan is to play Marcel and Shakti together for the first half and

then have Marcel and Mason together,” Gillis said. “It’ll come down to

the best team chemistry and obviously, which team plays better.”

Rounding out the roster are freshman Chris Morales and Zohrab Vartanian.

Both have received praise from Gillis for their strong work ethic.

“They need to get better and the nice thing is that want to get better,”

Gillis said. “They’re out there every day and they’re working hard.”

According to Gillis, who is in his seventh year as the men’s tennis

coach, OCC should be a top-three team in the Orange Empire Conference.

“We’ll have some problems with Saddleback and Irvine Valley, but we have

the talent to beat everyone else,” Gillis said. “If we can Phong back, we

might be able to make a run at Saddleback or Irvine Valley. This is one

of the best teams I’ve had in a few years here.”

COMMUNITY COLLEGE MEN

ORANGE COAST COLLEGE MEN’S TENNIS

Marcel Brouwer Fr.

Shakti Chemitiganti Fr.

Phong Luu So.

Chris Morales Fr.

Zohrab Vartanian Fr.

Mason Wei Fr.