4/21-4/24/16

CCCAA Individual Championships at Ojai 

In the final competition of the season, the CCCAA Individual Championships at Ojai, the Beavers had some great moments, some heart breaking moments, and, in the end, put forth some of their best tennis when it mattered most.

In the singles, American River boasted the top two seeds form Northern California, Alex Meliuk and Cody Duong, and three of top six seeds (Seppi Capaul #6). The Beavers also had a fourth representative, as Dylan King qualified for the championships by reaching the quarterfinal of the Big 8 North conference tournament. The long season and challenging draws proved to be a tough challenge for the Beavers in the singles portion of the state championships. Meliuk fell in the third round to the South #16 seed Scott Paz (IVC) 6-4, 6-1 for a disappointing end to an otherwise stellar season. Duong also lost in the third round to the South #14 seed Bruno Figlia (IVC) 6-4, 7-5. Duong played the match, as he did much of the season, fighting through injuries, but competed extremely hard and played as well as his body would allow in the loss. Capaul also reached the third round, but again fell to an IVC opponent, losing to South #12 seed Octave Bellet 6-2, 7-5. The match was significant in that it was the last singles match of Capaul's ARC career, one of the most successful two-year careers in recent Beaver history. King played Saddleback #1 player, and South #13 seed, Riku Goto in the second round. King played well, and kept the match competitive against the heavy favorite, but fell 6-3, 6-3. As with Capaul, it ended a terrific singles career for King, one in which he played a huge part in helping the beavers achieve their current level of success.

In the doubles the Beavers fared significantly better. The North #2 seed Duong/Meliuk became the first ARC doubles team to reach the state semifinals in over two decades. Their road to the semis, and the semifinal match itself, contained moments that will live forever in the lore of Beaver Magic. The exhilarating tennis began in the round of 16, where the Beavers faced off against South #5 seed Trifunovic/Zhang (CER). After rolling to a 6-0 first set victory, the Beavers let their foot off the gas and the Cerritos team took advantage, winning the second set 7-5. The match tiebreak went back and forth, with Cerritos earning the first match point at 9-8. Duong and Meliuk played extremely bravely, fighting off the match point and rattling off two more points for the match victory. It was an incredibly emotional win and was a precursor of things to come. In the quarterfinal Duong/Meliuk matched up against South #3 seed Karen/Koyanagi (VC). Once again, ARC came out strong, winning the first set 6-4, but their level dropped and they lost the second set 6-2. Once again, their fate would be decided by a match tiebreak. The extremely talented team of Karen/Koyanagi hit some incredible shots early in the tiebreak, but ARC kept within reach, eventually reaching 7-7 after being down a mini-break most of the tiebreak. At that point Duong/Meliuk stepped it up again and Duong hit two volley winners to close out the match 10-7. In the semifinal the ARC duo faced the #1 Irvine Valley team, and #1 South seed, Cohen/Velasco. It was an amazingly high level of tennis and the momentum shifted back and forth throughout the match. They split the first two sets 7-5, 4-6, meaning it would be decided by another match tiebreak. In the tiebreak both teams played gutsy tennis, and each team had match points. On their fourth match point the IVC tandem finally clinched it, ending the Beavers season. In addition to Duong/Meliuk, TJ Aukland/King and Justin Barton/Capaul also qualified for the championships. Aukland/King fell to the Mesa #1 team of Ussannaz-Ossana/Stanivukovic in the second round and Barton/Capaul lost a heartbreaker in the third round to the Riverside #1 team Bedrune/Iove 10-4 in the match tiebreak. After it was all said and done, it had been a great week for the Beavers and a magical way to end a magical season.