Big 8 North Individual Conference Championships

In the last conference competition of the season for ARC, the Beavers traveled to Santa Rosa for the individual conference tournament. All players from the Big 8 North compete for the individual conference title and to earn a spot in the year-end individual state championships in Ojai. In the singles the Beavers had five seeded players. The #1 and #2 seeds in the tournament were Alex Meliuk and Cody Duong respectively. Seppi Capaul (#5), Dylan King (#11), and TJ Aukland (#12) also were awarded seeds for the tournament. All six ARC players won at least one match in the tournament. Troy Carlsen fell to #3 seed Sean Alves (FLC) in the second round and TJ Aukland lost to #6 seed Sean Austin Miller (DVC), also in the second round. Dylan King scored an upset, beating #8 seed Eric Lofquist (DVC) to reach the quarterfinals and qualify for Ojai. He and Seppi Capaul both lost their quarterfinal matchups, King to Alves and Capaul to #4 seed Garrett Goldman (DVC). Cody Duong reached the semifinals before being forced to retire to Goldman and Alex Meliuk beat Alves in a well-played semifinal match before falling to Goldman in three sets in the singles final. The Beavers performed well in the doubles as well. For only the third time in the modern postseason era, the Beavers qualified all three doubles teams for Ojai by reaching the quarterfinals or better. Aukland/King played a tremendous match in their three-set loss to #2 seed Goldman/Salvador (DVC). In the semifinals #3 seeded Capaul/Justin Barton faced the DVC pairing of Goldman/Salvador and lost a heartbreaker 7-6(4), 7-6(4). #1 seeded Meliuk/Duong reached the final and matched up against the DVC pairing that had eliminated the other two ARC teams. It was a great match with momentum shifts in both directions. The ARC duo came out flat, losing the first set 6-3. In the second set they looked recharged and rolled to a 6-2 victory. In the third set match-tiebreak the Beavers had multiple match points but the DVC team were able to play their best tennis in the biggest moments, eventually beating the ARC team 13-11 in the match-tiebreak. Although it was a little disappointing to not win either the singles or doubles, it was still a very successful showing for the Beavers and a weekend that showcased some of their best tennis to date. The next event for ARC will be their first round playoff match against Modesto Junior College. The Beavers will host the Pirates on Tuesday, April.