Irvine Valley tennis team to take on American River in state final

Two number ones will square off in the battle for California Community College Dual Team men's tennis supremacy on Wednesday at Ventura College, starting at noon.

No. 1 Irvine Valley, which rolled through the South Regional, will be seeking its second straight state trophy in its third consecutive trip to the final. The Lasers will battle No. 1 seed and Northern champ American River, which is making its first trip to the dual-team championship in 50 years.

Irvine Valley (20-2) captured its third straight Orange Empire Conference title with a 10-0 record. The Lasers, coached by Ross Duncan, have won 15 straight and both losses came to four-year schools.

The Lasers are 55-6 over the last three years.

IVC beat Foothill, 5-2, to claim its first state crown last year. This year, the Lasers posted three straight 5-0 wins in the SoCal Regional over San Diego Mesa, No. 4 Mt. San Antonio and No. 2 Cerritos.

Sophomore Sam Cohen is 8-1 in singles (with the only loss to a ranked player from four-year school Case Western) and 12-0 in doubles with freshman Javier Callejo for the Lasers.

Cohen and Callejo are the top seed in doubles for the State Men's Individual Championships, which will be held at The Ojai Tournament on Thursday through Saturday.

And Cohen is seeded second in singles.

Callejo, a freshman from Madrid, Spain, and Bruno Figlia (Brazil) are both 9-0 in singles while Octave Bellet (France) is 13-1 and his only loss was a default in the OEC tourney.

American River won the state men's championship in 1966.

The Beavers captured their sixth straight Big 8 North title this year, going 10-0 in conference. Bo Jabery-Madison has an impressive 163-28 record (.853) in 12 seasons as head coach.

ARC finished second in the North Regional the last three years before winning this season.

The Beavers are 17-2 and have won six in a row since a 6-0 loss to Cerritos on March 19. They opened the playoffs with 5-0 triumphs over No. 7 Modesto and No. 5 Chabot, then beat No. 2 Foothill 5-2 in a rematch of last year's North final.

Alex Meliuk, a freshman from Belarus, is the Beavers' No. 1 player.

ARC went 3-0 in doubles vs. Foothill last Saturday, then sealed the deal with singles wins from Meliuk and No. 3 Seppi Capaul, an All-American and 2015 Freshman of the Year.

Meliuk is the No. 1 seed in the North for the individual tournament at The Ojai.

Preview courtesy of Dave Loveton, SBCC Sports Information and Men's Tennis State Championship SID representative