10/13/16-10/16/16

Alesia Paro (singles/doubles) and Cody Duong (doubles) competed in the prestigious Oracle Cup in Surprise, Arizona. The duo qualified for the Oracle Cup by winning the NorCal Regional ITA Tournament, hosted by American River College. Paro beat Duong in the singles final of the regional event to earn his spot at the Oracle Cup, and then Duong/Paro teamed up to beat Goldman/Salvador from Diablo Valley College to make it an ARC sweep. In the Oracle Cup the Beaver players competed against the other community college regional champions from throughout the country.

In the singles, Paro got plenty of court time, going three sets in each of his three matches, including a three and a half hour marathon against Max Blancaneaux from Cypress College. In the end, he would finish in 6th place. His journey included falling to Ismael Mzai (Seminole State) in the first round 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, beating Blancaneaux (CYP) 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-6(3) in the back draw, and finally losing to Carlos Anez (Seaward) 6-7(8), 6-1, 10-5 in the 5th/6th place match. Paro displayed some amazing tennis and competed brilliantly at times, particularly in the match against Blancaneaux (a match in which he was not broken in 17 service games) and in the first set against Anez (fighting off 3 set points to win the set 10-8 in the tiebreak). More importantly, it was much needed competitive match play that Paro gained heading forward in to the season.

In the doubles, Duong/Paro lost a heartbreaker in the first round to eventual champions Anez/Nice (Seaward), 7-5, 6-4. The Beavers served for the first set at 5-4, and had a set point, but were unable to close it out. The Seaward team then gained the momentum and played incredibly well for the remainder of the match, earning an early break in the second set and holding serve all the way through to beat the Beavers. After a back draw loss to Goncalves/Pimenta (Meridian), the Beavers faced off against the 2016 state semifinalist tandem of Katsnelson/Krasnov from Cerritos in the 7th/8th place match. Duong/Paro regained their form from the regional tournament, and won a straight-set match against the talented Cerritos team 6-4, 7-5. The tournament was an awesome opportunity for the Beavers and gave them exposure and match play  against some of the top competition from around the country. It was truly an invaluable experience.