Only one player emerged from the Southern California Regionals tournament last weekend and qualified for the state championship finals beginning tomorrow.

With everyone else eliminated from state contention, No. 1 player Tsuyoshi Nagaoko advanced to the State Championship in Long Beach tomorrow and Saturday.

“I felt like no one played the way they wanted to play,” Chris Bohlmann, one of the competitors for men’s doubles, said.

The rest of the men’s team, both the doubles and single competitors, did not last to the second round.

With everyone else eliminated, Nagaoko from the men’s singles remained EC’s only chance to have a representative at the state finals.

“I think that Tsuyoshi advancing is good for our program,” No. 1 player Lateefa Brown said. “Every team needs a player to go to state.”

For the women’s chances to advance to state, the responsibility was put on No.2 player Kacy Turner for singles and Brown and Turner for doubles. Both players know they’ll have to step up.

The pair lost in the second round after Turner’s three-hour marathon singles match, which ended in defeat earlier in the day.

“I ended up losing after doing two tie breakers in the three-hour match,” Turner said. “Coach (Steve VanKanegan) said our doubles match was the best that Brown and I played, but I was dead tired.”

Despite the loss, Brown remained optimistic with her performance during regional.

“I think it was the best I ever played the entire season,” Brown said.

For the women, this marked the end of a season that saw two top tennis players leave, a lack of a home court and dealing with the constant inconsistency of a shuffling roster.

“You just have to deal with the season struggles,” Turner said. “But I wouldn’t say that it was the hardest part of the season.”

As for the men, this was a successful season because of the talent on the roster and the goals that were met during the season.

“I think we met our goals,” Bohlmann said. “We tried to be the top team but we were right below Cerritos which was still good.”

Working on their games during the season, both the men and women have dramatically improved from the offseason.

“I felt that we all improved a lot individually and as a team,” Turner said. “But our doubles wasn’t as strong as it could have been because of the alternating partners.”

The common problem with both teams coming in was inconsistency.

Both teams lacked returning players and with the surge of new players, it was hard to built a team.

“We all had the shot to be very good but we needed more consistency on our doubles play as well as singles,” Bohlmann said.

Optimism for the next year is bright for both teams because of the bonds that the returning players have made and will continue to make in the offseason.

“I know for the women, it was a building season because of the returning players,” Brown said. “It was a fun season overall.”