Amazing seasons, OCC careers for Colling, Trinh conclude at Ojai

OJAI -- Orange Coast College women's tennis standouts Clarisa Colling and Karen Trinh wrapped up two incredible seasons with the Pirates at last weekend's Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament, host of the California Community College Athletic Association Women's Tennis State Championships.

Fresh off of an improbable run to the dual team tennis state title, the top two players from OCC continued their way through the individual singles and doubles brackets, playing several extended matches in a very short period of time.

Colling, the 2016 and 2017 OCC Female Athlete of the Year, returned to the singles state final after rolling through several opponents, including Riverside's Ellia Rosado in the Round of 32 (6-0, 6-0), Palomar's Veronika Kremennaya in the Round of 16 (6-1, 6-3), Canada's Diana Barcelata in the quarterfinals (6-2, 6-2) and Irvine Valley's Sarah Mae Garcia in the semifinals (6-1, 6-0).

In the finals, Colling ran up against a familiar foe, San Diego Mesa's Danielle Garrido, who defeated Colling in last year's state championship match. Unfortunately for Colling, the result was the same as Garrido survived a strong start from Colling and won, 7-5, 6-1 to become the first back-to-back singles state champion in 12 years.

On the doubles side of the bracket, Colling and Trinh, seeded No. 3 in the state, upset the north's No. 2 seed, Modesto's Symone Jacques and Kaitlynn Mayfield, 7-5, 6-2, to advance to the state semifinals and a rematch against Santa Monica's No. 1 team of Myra Jovic and Abby Mullins. 

These two teams played a pivotal doubles match in the finals of the Southern California Regionals, a match that was won by Colling and Trinh, 8-4. Coast went on to top the Corsairs, 5-2, and advance to the state finals.

Things looked good early for the OCC duo, thanks to a 6-2 win in the opening set, but Jovic and Mullins respond with authority and evened the match, 6-1 and won the super tiebreaker, 10-6. The SMCC team would go on to win the state doubles title later in the day, 6-4, 6-3 over Glendale's Veronika Galastyan and Tsukimi Ono.

Colling finished her final year with the Pirates 25-2 in singles, while Trinh, the OEC singles champion, finished 24-3. As a doubles team, Colling and Trinh went 26-3.

Their hard work led to several statewide honors for the Pirate sophomores. 

• Colling was the winner of the Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship and Leadership Award.
• Trinh was named the ITA's Most Improved Sophomore of the Year.
• Head coach Chris Ketcham was named the 2017 Women's Tennis State Coach of the Year, after leading the Pirates to a 19-2 record and their first women's tennis state team title since 2006.