With friends and family members gathered around the interior of the tennis courts, the Warriors defeated Orange Coast College at home on Friday.

The men’s tennis team improved it’s record to and is one step closer to it’s goal of making it to the state championships. 

“Winning the conference title is what really matters,” Steven Van Kanegan, men’s tennis coach said.

The Warriors took the singles competitions. 6-0 and won two of the three doubles matches giving them the win, 8-1.

Andrew Sarawasi, sophomore, won two straight matches in the singles portion to help lead his team past the Pirates.

“I did a good job on the first set, so that gave me confidence for the next one,” Sarawasi said.

The goal of the team is to be the state conference champions this year.

“I’m looking forward to the conference games,” Sarawasi said. 

Van Kanegan said that he is expecting great things from Sarawasi during this season.

“He obtained a lot of experience during the last year,” Van Kanegan said.

Even though this was not a conference game, Van Kanegan said he likes to “experiment” with the match-ups during these kinds of games to see how his players have gained experience.

A few players didn’t see action on Friday and not necessarily because of their ability, it was just roster rotation, freshman Kevin Nakasone said.

Jonathan Cipiti, sophomore, describes his first season with the team as exciting.

“I got my swing towards the second set,” he said. “I want to bring some wins home.”

Cipiti defeated his opponent in two sets during the singles portion of the match.

Cipiti said he only wants the best for his team and expects great things for this season.

It was a rough start to the men’s tennis team’s season. It lost the first game of the season to Saddleback College 7-2 and then to Irvine Valley College 6-3.

“We need to keep practicing really hard,” Van Kanegan said. “We are doing a good job, but if we want to bring home the championship we need to work harder.”

The Warriors will have a bye before hosting Mount San Antonio College at home March 8 at 2 p.m..