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HOME OF THE AMERICAN RIVER COLLEGE BEAVERS

Two Beavers earn ITA Awards, Three Others Nominated

Younes Kodiji (left) and Cody Duong (right) with ITA awards

Assistant coach, Cody Duong, and freshman star, Younes Kodiji, earned prestigious 2019 Region I ITA awards. Duong won the ITA Assistant Coach of the Year award over an excellent group of nominees. Duong is the second ARC assistant coach to win the award, the other being Reed Stout in 2011. "Cody has been the heart and soul of our program for the last four seasons. Two as a player, and now two as an assistant coach. I would bet that no single individual has had a greater impact on their team than Cody has had for our team over the past four years. Nobody has ever deserved this award more than Cody does this year." Cody has been accepted and will be competing for UC San Diego in the fall of 2019.

Kodiji won the 2019 ITA Player to Watch award, recognizing the individual that has the most upside and the brightest future. Kodiji won the award over a strong collection of freshman players throughout the state. His season was highlighted by victories against four-year university competitors from Sonoma State and UC Santa Cruz, and victories against top end California community college competitors Arthur Toledo (CER), Roger Wen (CHA), and Tyler Edwards (SAD). In addition to these dual team wins, Younes also won the Big 8 North Conference title, beating fellow Beavers Stephen Guenard and Sam Hall in the process. Kodiji is the second player in Beaver history to win the Player to Watch award, the other being Cody Duong in 2016.

Four other Beavers were nominated for awards including Bo Jabery-Madison (Coach of the Year), Stephen Guenard (Freshman of the Year), Sam Hall (Sophomore of the Year), and Tommy Luu (Arthur Ashe Award). The high number of nominees is an indication of the exemplary season the Beavers had. The ITA award banquet is held the day before the Ojai individual championships, in which the Beavers are looking to make some noise and take a run at some singles and doubles championships.