Koyanagi Stays in Hunt For Second Straight Title

In a comeback for the ages, defending state champion Hironori Koyanagi advanced to his second straight championship match Saturday at the CCCAA State Championships at The Ojai Tournament. The Pirate sophomore won two matches on the day to move into Sunday's final.

The day began in an almost routine fashion.  Top-seeded Koyanagi, who went through his freshman season undefeated without dropping a single set, won his quarterfinal match 6-2, 6-2 over the No. 3 seed from Folsom Lake College.  It was in his semifinal match where things got interesting.

In the semifinal, Hiro faced off against No. 3-seed Sasha Krasnov of Cerritos College. In their only meeting this season, Krasnov was leading, 6-4, 6-5 in their Southern California Team Duals semifinal match when the Falcons clinched the team win.

Hiro started off well, holding serve for a 3-2 advantage.  Krasnov was able to come back, however, to take the set 7-5.

Hiro found himself down 3-2 in the second set, in danger of dropping just his second match of his VC career before rallying to take four of the next five games, evening the match with a 6-4 set win.

In the final set, Koyanagi broke Krasnov twice early, moving ahead 3-0, and posting the 6-3 win to take the match.

Koyanagi will play his final match for the Pirates at approximately 12:30 pm at Libby Park in Ojai in his second consecutive state finals appearance.  He will take on No. 10-seed Javier Callejo from Irvine Valley College, who had his own dramatic come from behind victory in the semifinals, 1-6,7-6(2), 6-0 over his teammate and No. 2-seed Sam Cohen.

In doubles play Saturday, Koyanagi and teammate Corey Karen, the No. 3-seed in the tournament, fell to the No. 2 team from American River College, 6-4, 2-6, 10-7.