Inoue/Mason reach state semifinals at Ojai
OJAI -- The Orange Coast College women's tennis duo of Miri Inoue and Cameryn Mason capped off a strong 2018 season by reaching the state semifinals of the California Community College Athletic Association Women's Tennis State Championships, held at the Ojai Tennis Center last weekend.
Inoue and Mason, champions of the Orange Empire Conference and the No. 3 seed heading into the state tournament, began with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Modesto's Cha Eggen and Kaylyn Hedstrom and followed that up with a 6-1, 6-0 win over No. 14-seed Katrina Hudson and Marah Pinquian of Sequoias.
In the Round of 16, Inoue and Mason cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 11 seed Diviana Bravo and Itzi Torres of Cerritos College and ripped through seven-seeded Sima Lepchevska and Hailey McNall of Glendale, 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
That set up a matchup with top-seeded Ksenila Prokopchuk and Lisa Suzuki of Cerritos College. There, the Falcons' duo would sweep past Inoue and Mason (6-0, 6-1) before eventually winning the CCCAA women's tennis doubles state title.
Another deep run in the tournament came from the doubles team of Sara LeBoulenge and Jo Ann Taylor, who topped Imperial Valley's Kimberly Acuna and Natalie Shunnarah (6-0, 6-0) in the opening round before upsetting fifth-seed Sarah Kellogg and Presli Pilati of Modesto, 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 in the Round of 64.
The unseeded OCC duo kept the upsets coming with a 3-6, 6-2, 10-6 win over No. 12 seed Gabrielle Goss and Katelyn Peyvandi of Santa Barbara City College in the Round of 32.
But the run of upsets came to an end for LaBouenge and Taylor, who fell to Cerritos College's Moa Lindstrom and Petra Such, 6-0, 6-1, in the Round of 16.
Inoue, the OEC singles champion, kept herself busy in singles play as well, reaching the state quarterfinals with wins over Grossmont's Erica Childs (6-0, 6-0), Cerritos' Diviana Bravo (6-2, 6-1) and Chabot's Stephanie Huang (6-3, 6-0). But in the quarters, No. 2 seed Sandra Dafinescu got the better of Inoue in a three-set thriller, 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7).
