Four Irvine Valley men's tennis players were recently named junior college All-Americans by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
Freshman Javier Callejo and sophomores Sam Cohen, Scott Paz and Bruno Figlia were the Lasers selected.
The Irvine Valley men's tennis team captured its second straight California Community College Athletics Association State Championship this past April. The team finished with an overall record of 21-2 with the only two losses coming to four-year schools.
IVC also won both the singles and doubles state titles.
Callejo, who won the state singles title, and Cohen, who was IVC's No. 1 singles player, earned All-American honors in both singles and doubles by the ITA.
Callejo and Cohen also finished second in the state in doubles.
Callejo won the Irvine Valley men's tennis program's first ever state singles title in Ojai. He defeated defending state champion Hiro Koyanagi of Ventura, 7-5, 6-2, in the final.
He handed Koyanagi only his second loss of the season in singles.
Callejo, the No. 10 seed, knocked off the No. 8, 4, 7, 2 and 1 seeds on his way to the final.
Callejo ended up going 17-0 in singles on the season for IVC.
Cohen racked up a record of 13-3 in singles (one of the losses was a default in the Orange Empire Conference Tournament). He went 5-0 in singles in dual matches during the conference season and was named the Orange Empire Conference player of the year.
Cohen reached the semifinals of the state singles event. He won his first three matches in straight sets and then rallied to defeat Mt. SAC's Ron Kang, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Cohen lost in a tough semifinal, falling to IVC teammate Callejo, 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-0.
Cohen was also an impressive doubles player. He finished with a record of 15-2 in doubles action. He played in the No. 1 position for the team with Callejo.
The duo, which was seeded first, made a notable run in the doubles bracket at the state tournament, reaching the final before losing in the final to IVC teammates Figlia and Paz, 10-4, in a third-set super-tiebreaker.
IVC's Figlia and Paz were named All-Americans for doubles play.
Figlia had a record of 17-1 in doubles and 12-0 in singles this past season for Irvine Valley. He recently signed with the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
Paz had a record of 18-1 in doubles this past season, including going 11-0 with Figlia.
He also finished with a solid record of 14-2 in singles for Irvine Valley during the 2016 season, playing mostly in the No. 3 to No. 5 positions.
Paz signed with Division 1 Eastern Washington.
Figlia and Paz won Irvine Valley's second straight state doubles title.
