Koyanagi and Karen Named ITA All-Americans

Pirate tennis players Hironori Koyanagi and Corey Karen both earned All-American honors, as awarded by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association for the 2015 season.
Pirate tennis players Hironori Koyanagi and Corey Karen both earned All-American honors, as awarded by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association for the 2015 season.

Ventura College men's tennis players Hironori Koyanagi and Corey Karen were named Intercollegiate Tennis Association JC/CC All-Americans for the 2015 season.  Both players earned the honor in singles, and as a duo in doubles play, as announced by the organization last month.

Koyanagi dominated singles play, winning the CCCAA State Championship at The Ojai Tournament, completing an undefeated season.  He was 23-0 on the year, winning conference and state titles, and did not drop a set the entire season.

Karen, meanwhile, reached the state quarterfinals at The Ojai, posting a 17-4 mark for the year.  he dropped the Western State Conference championship match to Koyanagi.

The duo also teamed up in doubles to win the WSC title, advancing to the state semifinals before being upset.  they finished the year with a 19-2 mark.

Ventura was one of just four California Community College programs with multiple All-Americans for 2015.

The ITA All-American honors are based on the final Top 10 state rankings in the Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis Ranking in singles, and the final Top 5 state rankings in the Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings.

As the governing body of collegiate tennis, the ITA promotes both the athletic and academic achievements of varsity collegiate tennis players. The ITA, which is comprised of nearly 1,700 men's and women's varsity coaches and 20,000 student-athletes from over 1,200 institutions, has a comprehensive awards program for players and coaches to honor excellence in academics, leadership, sportsmanship and athletic performance. Awards are given to both men and women, on the Regional and National levels to all Divisions represented within the ITA (NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA, and Community and Junior Colleges). The ITA annually recognizes over 3,000 student-athletes on an individual and team basis from over 500 different varsity tennis programs. For more information on the ITA Awards program, please visit http://www.itatennis.com/AwardsAndRankings/ITA_Award_Winners.htm.

See 2015 ITA JC/CC All-American Press Release