Local Players Shine at Ojai Tennis Tournament

The 111th Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament is being played this week in Ventura County, and local players have had impressive results in the junior, high school, college and Open divisions.

players are dominating the women's Community College divisions so far. , the Corsairs' top player and the No. 1 seed in the 128-player singles field, is into the quarterfinals after three straight-set victories. After receiving a first-round bye, she cruised past Maddie Loomis of Fresno City, 6-0 6-1, in the round of 64 Thursday afternoon. On Friday, Mozolyuk swept Nicci Yvanovich of Santa Barbara, 6-3, 6-1, then routed Auriel Tomaiko of Saddleback, 6-0, 6-0. Mozolyuk plays Jazmin Ortiz of Grossmont on Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Ojai Valley Athletic Club.

Also playing singles for SMC were and . Hansard survived a scare in her opening match to edge Sabrina Emery of Mt. San Antonio, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, Thursday morning, then beat Reedley's Nicole Simone, 6-2, 6-4, in the afternoon. Then, on Friday morning, Hansard beat Ariel Bergthold of Ventura, 7-6 (4), 6-3, before finally succumbing to Kelsey Chrisco of Sierra, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, in the round of 16 at Ventura College. Rodriguez, meanwhile, had a first-round bye, then  beat Namrata Sher of Chabot, 6-4, 6-1, in the round of 64. On Friday morning, Rodriguez lost by the same score to Anastasia Glyaulseva of De Anza. 

In the doubles competition, the Corsairs' top duo of Hansard and Rodriguez has also earned a spot in the quarterfinals of the 128-team draw. The SMC pair was seeded No. 1 and had a first-round bye. On Thursday, Hansard and Rodriguez beat Tamra Ruxin and Elle Anderson of American River, 6-0, 6-4. Then, on Friday, they beat Katie Billings and Megan Miller of Irvine Valley, 6-0, 6-2, in the round of 32 and made short work of Chabot's Cher and Andrea Poljakovic, 6-2, 6-2, at Camino Real Park in Ventura. The Corsairs tandem will take on Saddleback's Karley Pletcher and Auriel Tomaiko at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Ojai Athletic Club.

Mozolyuk partnered with SMC teammate in the bottom half of the bracket and, after drawing a first-round bye, they prevailed over Jamee Biadora and Chelsea Logan of Cypress, 7-6 (9), 6-4, Thursday afternoon and swept Shannay Lee and Doris Obih of Fullerton, 6-2, 6-0, Friday morning before falling to Grossmont's Ortiz and Sharon Reibstein, 6-2, 6-3, in the round of 16.

In the girls' 14s singles division, Santa Monica resident had a strong tournament, reaching the quarterfinals. Levine beat Nicole Anderson, 6-2, 6-0, then upset No. 8-seeded Risa Nakagawa of Rancho Palos Verdes 7-6 (2), 6-1, on Thursday. She was back on the court Friday morning and eliminated Mattea Kilstofte in a marathon, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (1). Levine had little energy left for her quarterfinal meeting with second-seeded Kenadi Hance of Torrance, losing 6-0, 6-0.

In the boys' 16s singles division, junior  of advanced to the round of 16. Seeded No. 5 in the 64-player draw, Rivera won his first two matches Thursday, blanking Derek Kaiser of Ojai, 6-0, 6-0, in the first round and sweeping Kevin Pham of Irvine, 6-1, 6-1, in the second round.

On Friday morning at Thacher School, Rivera was upset in a tough three-setter to No. 9-seeded Alexander Solonin, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3. On the opposite side of the 16s draw, , a junior at , lost his first-round match Thursday to No. 4-seeded Kei Ezaka of Ojai. 

In the boys' high school (CIF) division, Samohi's was ousted by Corona del Mar's Shane Korber, 6-1, 6-2, in the first round of the 64-player singles draw Thursday morning at Villanova School. In the CIF doubles division, Samohi's and easily won their opening match, 6-1, 6-0, over Taft's Devin Thewlis and Derek Wilson, but lost Thursday afternoon to Cameron Bernhardt and Giordano Valdez of Rancho Bernardo at Thacher.

Samohi senior entered the men's Open division and advanced through qualifying with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Jack Sanford of Westlake Village and a 6-2, 6-2 win over Kenta Fukuoka. McKinnon then lost, 6-2, 6-0, in the first round of the main draw Thursday to fifth-seeded Andy Gerst of Torrance. Santa Monica residents and also tried qualifying in the Open division but lost their opening matches. Hardt fell, 6-3, 7-6 (5), to Darius Frick of Oceanside and Massey lost, 6-1, 6-1, to Rickey Baylon of Buena Park.