Beavers Perform Well at State Individual Championships
For the fourth time in program history, and the third season in a row, all six singles players and all three doubles teams qualified for the year-end state individual championships at Ojai. Additionally, all six singles players and three doubles teams were seeded for the North. In the singles Julian Bilbao (#15 seed), Spencer Hill (#13 seed), Parker Perdue (#12 seed), and Shane Timmons (#8 seed), all lost in the first round to their SoCal opponents. Lenny Lin (#5 seed) reached the round of 16 with a straight set victory over Mt. SAC #2 player, Kaden Salvador, and a hard-fought 3-set battle over Orange Coast #1, and 11th seeded SoCal player, Logan Friedman. In the round of 16 Lin lost to Ventura College #1, and #4 SoCal seed, Jinsei Tajima. ARC #1 player and #1 seed from NorCal, Ravi Nelson, made a great run in the tourney, reaching the quarterfinals before losing to eventual finalist, Hernan Olivas, 1-6, 6-4, 6-0.
In the doubles the Beavers had two teams reach the quarterfinals for the second time in program history. Jack Hall/Lin and Spencer Hill/Nelson each won three matches before falling in three sets to SoCal competition. Hall/Lin lost to finalist Phil Jabin/Tajima from Ventura College 10-4 in the match tiebreak and Hill/Nelson came up short versus Kiichi Ishida/Devon Kashishian from Irvine Valley College 10-8 in the match tiebreak.
Despite the heart-breaking losses to finish the season, it was a tremendous campaign for the Beavers, reaching their fifth state dual-team championship match in six years, and having two doubles teams and a singles player reach the quarterfinal of the state individual championships at Ojai. The Beavers now look forward to preparing for another outstanding year in 2023-24.