VENTURA – The College of the Desert (Palm Desert) men’s tennis team blanked American River College (Sacramento), 5-0, at Ventura College to win its 17th California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) state championship on the first day of the 121st Ojai Tennis Tournament on Wednesday.
COD (18-1), which defeated Ventura College in the CCCAA Southern California Regional final last weekend to book its spot in Wednesday’s CCCAA State Team final, sent outgoing coach Guy Fritz into retirement with a third consecutive state crown. Fritz is the father of Taylor Fritz, a past junior competitor at The Ojai, the 2022 BNP Paribas Open champion, and currently the world’s top-ranked American tennis player at No. 10 in the ATP World Tour rankings.
Fritz’s coaching tenure with the Roadrunners will end this weekend as COD opens play in the Men’s and Women’s CCCAA State Individual Championships at The Ojai on Thursday. COD features six singles players – sophomores Eita Ishikawa and Matthew Shaw and freshmen Hernan Quiroz, Nathan Caolie, Joseph Corse and Ian Rabtsevich – and three doubles teams (Ishikawa-Corse, Caolie-Rabtsevich and Quiroz-Shaw) in the Men’s CCCAA State Individual tournament.
In the Women’s CCCAA State Individual tournament, COD is represented in singles by sophomore Emunah Daffon and freshmen Maryn Petek, Hana Moss and Ayano Tsuchiya, and in the event’s doubles draw through the teams of Moss and Daffon and Petek and sophomore Antonella Mazzotti.
The CCCAA State Team and Individual Championship events returned to the Ojai Tennis Tournament this year for the first time since 2019.
Photo Credit: College of the Desert Athletics