Irvine Valley men's tennis players had some solid results at the California Community College Athletic Association State Championships that were held at the Ojai 118th Annual Tournament over the weekend.
Irvine Valley's team of freshmen Michael Bott and Thallys Santos made it to the semifinal in doubles.
"They played their best tennis of the year so that was fun to see," IVC coach Ross Duncan said.
The duo won four matches in straight sets, including beating ninth-seeded Solal Cherqui and Rafael Dunan of Ventura, 6-4, 6-2, in the quarterfinals.
Bott and Santos lost to the eventual champion team and second seed Alexy Prokopchuk and Marcos Silvestre, 6-2, 7-5, in the semis.
In singles, Bott, who was seeded sixth, reached the quarterfinals.
He beat Elie-Noe Nicolay of Riverside, 6-0, 6-2, in the round of 32 and then topped top-seeded Paul Bhatia of American River in the quarterfinals. Bott was up, 3-0, in the opening set when Bhatia had to retire.
Bott lost in the quarterfinals to third-seeded Victor Castro of Cerritos, 6-1, 6-4.
IVC freshman Jacob Holiday won a match in the singles draw before losing in the second round to seventh-seeded Pete Gibson of American River, 7-5, 6-4.
And Santos also won a singles match in straight sets before losing to top-seeded Kent Hunter of Cerritos, 6-2, 6-0. Hunter ended up making the final.
