American River posts shutout to claim NorCal title and will face College of the Desert for state title

SACRAMENTO - For the fourth time in the last five completed seasons, the American River College men's tennis team won the Northern California team championship by beating the Chabot Gladiators by a score of 5-0 last Friday. The shutout completed a regional season in which the Beavers did not lose a single individual match. The undefeated individual season includes the Modesto Invitational Tournament and the Big 8 Conference Championships.

The Beavers will face SoCal champion College of the Desert (17-0) for the CCCAA Championship on Saturday at Bakersfield Racquet Club.

In the team championship versus Chabot, ARC produced their best dual-team doubles performance, beating all three quality Chabot teams handily. Micah Erwin/Ravi Nelson beat the Chabot team at #1 by the score of 8-2. Zac Prince/Robin Sharma we're almost as dominant, winning 8-3. Finally, at #3 doubles, Justin Le/DJ Sobrepena surrendered only 1 game. In the singles, Parker Perdue (#6) won by default when his opponent could not go any longer with an injury, and Zac Prince clinched the NorCal title with a 6-0, 6-0 victory at #4.

(American River College Athletics) 

COD Men’s Tennis sweeps their way to SoCal Title, sinks Pirates, 5-0

PALM DESERT - The College of the Desert men's tennis team (17-0) made quick work of their Regional Finals opponents after sweeping the doubles and the Roadrunners are headed to another State Championship, defeating the Ventura Pirates (18-1), 5-0.

In doubles play, the team of freshman Elijah Strode (San Diego Heritage Christian) and freshman Raymundo Chavez (Ensenada (BCN, MX) Centro de Bachillerato Tecnologico Inds. Servicos (CBT is 41 won easily 8-3. The team of freshman Marco Alvarez (Chula Vista Eastlake) and freshman Matthew Shaw (Baton Rouge (LA) GED Testing Online) took down the #2 seeded Pirates in a hotly contested match, 8-6. The team of freshman Jiaxi Ma (Irvine Woodbridge) and freshman Eita Ishikawa (Yokkaichi (JPN) Yokkaichi Technical) would have to fight back from an 0-3 deficit to win their hard-fought match, 8-6.

In singles play, Strode rebounded from his semifinals singles loss to dominate in a quick 6-2 and 6-1 win and Chavez won his match easily, 6-1 and 6-1. Alvarez and Ma were leading in their matches when they were suspended and Ishikawa and Shaw were fighting back in their sets when their matches were suspended prematurely because Desert had reached the five-set limit securing the win for the Roadrunners.

The next match for College of the Desert Men's Tennis will be at the Bakersfield Racquet Club in Bakersfield for the CCCAA State Finals, facing the #1 seed from NorCal, the American River Beavers of Sacramento on Saturday.

College of the Desert defeated Ventura College, 5-0 in the final round of the CCCAA Southern California Regional Playoffs at College of the Desert in Palm Desert.

DOUBLES
#1: Strode / Chavez (COD) def. Sodersten / Ashbrook (VENT) 8-3
#2: Alvarez / Shaw (COD) def. Koide / Ryan Lam (VENT) 8-6
#3: Ma / Ishikawa (COD) def. Jabin / Tajima (VENT) 8-6

SINGLES
#1: Elijah Strode (COD) def. Philemon Jabin (VENT) 6-2, 6-1
#2: Marco Alvarez (COD) susp. Brodie Sodersten (VENT) 6-4, 4-2 (sus.)
#3: Raymundo Chavez (COD) def. Yuya Koide (VENT) 6-1, 6-1
#4: Eita Ishikawa (COD) susp. Sam Ashbrook (VENT) 6-0, 5-4 (sus.)
#5: Jiaxi Ma (COD) susp. Jinsei Tajima (VENT) 6-3, 4-1 (sus.)
#6: Matthew Shaw (COD) susp. Santino Serralonga (VENT) 6-1, 1-6, 2-1 (sus.)

(Brian Sylva, COD Athletics)