ARC-0 Foothill-5
Overall: 14-5 Conference: 7-0

The Beavers traveled to Foothill College to take on the Foothill College Owls for the NorCal community college championship on Saturday, April 20th. It is the fifth time in seven seasons that these two teams have matched up for the NorCal title. In the previous four meetings the Beavers and Owls have split matches. On this occasion the Beavers fell behind early, getting swept in the doubles by the scores of 8-6 (#1), 8-6 (#2), and 8-2 (#3). At #1 doubles Stephen Guenard/Sam Hall (ARC) had a back and forth match against the highly rated #1 Foothill tandem of Nick Khamphilath/Ryo Kojima. There was some tremendous points being played, with breaks of serve going back and forth, but with the Beavers serving at 6-7 they were broken one final time to earn the victory for the Owls. At #2 doubles Younes Kodiji/Tommy Luu (ARC) fell behind a break early and could not earn the break back. The Owls combo of Yu Tokuyama/Levi Vigdorchik served it out at 8-6 to earn the sweep of the doubles for the Owls.

As has been the case all year for the Beavers, they played their best when their backs were against the wall. They fought with everything they had at every singles spot, pushing all but one to the limit, looking at 3rd sets in each of the five remaining matches. Unfortunately for the Beavers, Kaison Lum's valiant effort at #6 singles fell short, and he lost the clinching match 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 to Foothill's #6 player, Levi Vigdorchik. At #1, Younes Kodiji had fought back from a set and 2-0 down to have two set points at 6-5 40-15 when the match was called. Stephen Guenard (#2) was up 2-1 in the third set as the match was clinched for the Owls. Tommy Luu (#5) was also up in the third set at 3-2 at the time of the clinch. Perhaps the bravest performance of the day for the Beavers, came from Micah Erwin, who fought off 5 match points, serving at 4-5 and a set down.

It was a disappointing result for the Beavers, but they can be proud of the fact that they left everything they had out on the courts in the loss. "There was nothing wrong with our performance today" explained coach Bo Jabery-Madison. "We just ran in to a team that was more skilled and experienced than us. We did the best that we could with the things we controlled, and that is all we can expect from our boys. Obviously, it would have been nice to take one or two of the doubles, and then the whole dynamic of the match changes, but that didn't happen, and I couldn't be more proud of our boys after that effort in the singles."

The Beavers will finish the season at 14-5, with three of those losses to four-year universities. They won their 8th straight conference championship, and will likely finish the year as the 4th ranked team in the state. Next up for the Beavers is the prestigious year-end individual championships at Ojai. ARC will have several of the favorites in the tournament, including NorCal seeded #1 Younes Kodiji, #3 NorCal seeded Stephen Guenard, and #7 NorCal seeded Sam Hall. In doubles the Beavers will have NorCal seedings of #2 (Guenard/Hall), #4 (Kodiji/Luu), and #8 (Erwin/Lum).

It has been an incredible run this year, and the best may be yet to come in Ojai.