Six Turlock athletes entered the Central California Conference singles tournament on Tuesday at Merced High with high hopes, but only two players made it past the first round.

Turlock High's Aldair Lima was the only Turlock player to make it past the first round. He defeated Pitman’s Elijah Silveira, 6-2, 6-0 in the first round before he faced first ranked Cesar Nava of Golden Valley and fell in straight sets, 6-0, and 6-0.

“We are proud of these guys,” Turlock head coach Juan Alaniz said. “You know we had a good effort, it’s all about getting the experience.

 “I was expecting Lima to do well,” Alaniz said. “He is a good competitor, an excellent competitor. First match did not seem too tough for him, but the second against that number one who has a tone of experience was really rough for him.”

For the Pride, Jeremy Moitoso defeated Buhach Colony’s Alex Avila in the first round, 6-0, 6-1. The following round, Moitoso was defeated by Merced’s Jordan Cabrera 2-6, 2-6.

“You know it was a tough matchup but I think Jeremy did a great job out there,” Pitman head coach Doug Reimers said. “It was tough because you can see that Jordan is a perfectionist. I really feel that Jeremy did better than what the score says because many of the matchups were decided by less than 10 points.”

The other players from Turlock— Jordan Bean and Martin Castorena of THS, and Broniel Azof and Elijah Silveira  of Pitman —were all eliminated in the first round.

“Jordan just got off to a bad start and could not dig himself out of the hole,” Alaniz said. “Mentally, pressuring himself, [he] made good points in the middle and first set, but he had to finish and he wasn’t as focused at this point.”

“You know these guys kept representing Pitman,” Reimers said. “They were the epitome of sportsmanship and stood tall regardless of the tough competition.”

Next for the Pride and Bulldogs will be the CCC doubles tournament on Thursday at Merced High.