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Men’s Tennis Performs Well in the Individual State Championships at Ojai

Men?s Tennis Performs Well in the Individual State Championships at Ojai

In the final event of the season, the Beavers performed well in the individual portion of the state championships. In the singles, five of the six qualifying Beaver players moved on to the round of 32. Andy Vang defeated Jakob Dvorken (COD) 6-2, 6-1 in the second round, before falling to South #3 seed Wyatt DeMulling (IVC) 6-0, 6-1 in the round of 32. Eric De Romas beat Kevin Orellana (GLEN) in the second round and lost to South #4 seed Nikita Katsnelson (CER) 6-3, 6-0 in the round of 32. Neville Cooper won versus a tough Cypress opponent, Ingmar Remmerswaal 6-3, 6-4 in the second round and fell to South #7 seed Lucas Lasoeur (IVC) 6-1, 6-1 in the round of 32. The Beaver #1 and #2 players, Tam Duong and Cody Duong, became the first duo of ARC players to make the round of 16 in the same season since 1999, when current coach Bo Jabery-Madison and Bart Prytula both reached the round of 16. Cody Duong reached the quarterfinal by beating Rodrigo Perdigao (VC) 6-1, 6-4, Kimo Barrere (SDM) 6-4, 6-4, and Christian Hess (GLEN) 6-1, 1-0 ret. In the quarterfinal Cody Duong faced 2016 singles champion, and eventual 2017 champion, Javi Callejo-Velasco (IVC). Cody came out flat and lost the first set quickly, 6-1. In the second set Cody found his rhythm and confidence, but Callejo-Velasco was locked in and didn't allow Cody back in the match. Despite Cody earning several break points late in the second set, Callejo-Velasco closed him out 6-2, ending Cody's singles season. Cody was the first ARC player to get this far in the state tournament since Lovedeep Singh reached the final in 2014. Tam Duong almost made it two Beavers in the quarterfinals, losing in an intensely played and physical round of 16 match against eventual finalist, Vincent Reynaud (CYP) 7-6(4), 7-5. Tam served for each set, but was unable close out the outstanding counter puncher from Cypress in either set. On the way to the round of 16 Tam beat Daniel Villa Rosas (SDC) 6-0, 6-1 and Jeff Gelman (SAD) 6-2, 7-5.

 

The doubles were highlighted by a run to the quarterfinals by Cody Duong/Tam Duong. As the North #1 seed, they rolled through their first two matches before facing South #8 seed Trifunovic/Zhang (CER) in the round of 16. The match had ups and downs, as both teams had stretches of owning the momentum. At the end of each set the Beavers pulled away with clutch serving, big returns, and deft net play. The final match score was 7-5, 6-3 and the Beavers moved on to play Kyle/Remmerswaal (CYP) in the quarterfinals at the Ojai Valley Athletic Club. In another nail-biter, the Beavers fell short this time, losing 7-5, 7-6 (1) to the Cypress #2 team. The Beavers served for both sets, but were unable to close the sets out. The quarterfinal appearance by Cody and Tam made it 4 out of the last 5 seasons that an ARC doubles teams has reached at least the quarterfinals of the state tournament, highlighted by the semifinal performance of Cody Duong and Alex Meliuk last season.