Irvine Valley freshman women's tennis player Halla Alajeely was recently named singles co-Most Valuable Player of the Orange Empire Conference and Alajeely and sophomore Fiorella Dreux were picked as the Most Valuable doubles team of the conference.
Alajeely shared the singles honor with Orange Coast's Miri Inoue.
Alajeely reached the semifinals of the CCCAA State Championship in singles at the Ojai 118th Annual Tournament two weeks ago.
Alajeely, who was one of the No. 1 seeds, received a bye in the first round and then cruised in her next four matches, dropping just three games in eight sets. She defeated fifth-seeded Petra Such of Cerritos, 6-2, 6-0, in the quarterfinals.
But Alajeely lost a close match in the semifinals. She fell to Sandra Dafinescu of De Anza, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
On the season, Alajeely had a record of 15-2 in singles. One of the losses (to Inoue) came because of a retirement due to injury. She had already won the first set in that match.
Teaming up in doubles, Alajeely and Dreux reached the quarterfinals at the state event.
The duo won three matches in all.
Alajeely and Dreux, who were seeded second, defeated Solano's Camile Contawe and Jyne Velono, 6-1, 6-0, in the round of 32, and then topped Glendale's Sabrina Subero and Miah Webbk, 6-2, 4-6, 10-5, in the round of 16.
Alajeely and Dreux lost a tough match in the quarterfinals, falling to the third-seeded team of Evan Spindler and Lilana Spindler, 6-1, 5-7, 11-9.
Alajeely and Dreux ended up with a record of 14-4 on the year in doubles.
And the duo helped Irvine Valley finish with a record of 13-4 overall and take second in conference with a 8-2 mark. The team made the semifinals of the CCCAA Team Dual Playoffs and lost to eventual state champion Cerritos.
Dreux recently signed with Division II Shorter University in Georgia.
