After winning their 13th Western State Conference team championship in the past 15 seasons, the Pirates' men's tennis team put the icing on the cake with another dominant performance to close the individual WSC singles and doubles competition Thursday at the VC Tennis Center. Hironori Koyanagi completed a historic back-to-back double-dip, winning his second straight singles crown and teaming up with Corey Karen to defend their WSC doubles title.
Koyanagi made his case as the most dominant men's tennis player in VC history with his historic feat. He defeated doubles teammate Karen 6-0, 6-2 in a rematch of last year's singles championship. Koyanagi, the defending state singles champion, is now 19-1 on the year in singles play and heads into the CCCAA State Championships at The Ojai as the co-No. 1 seed in the field. Karen, meanwhile, is 16-2 on the year and seeded No. 4 at The Ojai.
In doubles play, Koyanagi and Karen entered the finals by default while Michael Burr and Guenter Newman won their semifinal match 8-5 to set up another all-VC championship rematch from a year ago. Koyanagi and Karen defeated their teammates 6-4, 6-1 to repeat as champions. They are now 15-1 on the year and will be the No. 3 seed at The Ojai.
The CCCAA State Championships will be held on April 21-24 at The Ojai Tournament. Koyanagi, Karen, Burr, Leonardo Santos and Evan Gazic will represent the Pirates in singles play. Meanwhile, the teams of Koyanagi and Karen, Burr and Newman, and Victor Ribeiro and Santos are scheduled to play in doubles.
See Updated 2016 WSC Tennis Championships Men's Singles Bracket
See Updated 2016 WSC Tennis Championships Men's Doubles Bracket
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| 2016 WSC Singles Finalists Corey Karen (left) and Hironori Koyanagi with head coach Nelson Emery. | 2016 WSC Doubles Finalists (from left) Guenter Newman, Michael Burr, Corey Karen and Hironori Koyanagi with head coach Nelson Emery (middle). |