COD has done it again.
The Roadrunners reign as state champions for the third straight season.
Full press release below…
The College of the Desert (Palm Desert) men’s tennis team defeated American River College (Sacramento), 5-0, at Ventura College to win their 17th California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) state championship at 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 former junior competitor at The Ojai, 2022 BNP Paribas Open champion and currently the world’s highest-ranked American tennis player ranked #10 in the ATP World Tour rankings.
Fritz’s tenure as coach with the Roadrunners will end this weekend when COD opens play at the men’s and women’s CCCAA Individual State Championships in 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 CCCAA State Individual men’s tournament. .
In the CCCAA women’s state singles 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 and Singles Championship events returned to the Ojai Tennis Tournament this year for the first time since 2019.
