Ashley Villarta & Hugo Amsallem Named COC Student-Athletes of the Week

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director

College of the Canyons student-athletes Ashley Villarta (women's tennis) and Hugo Amsallem (men's golf) have been named the COC Athletic Department's Women's & Men's Student-Athletes of the Week for the period running April 25-30.

Villarta and Amsallem are the 11th set of honorees for the spring 2022 semester.

Ashley Villarta / Women's Tennis

Villarta was the last woman standing for a Cougars team that completed a historic 2022 season, including the program's first Western State Conference (WSC) Championship, when she took the court for Day 2 of the CCCAA Women's Tennis Southern California Regional Singles & Doubles Championships held April 29-30 at El Camino College.

The freshman out of Valencia High School was victorious in the tourney's round of 32, defeating her opponent from San Diego City College 6-1, 6-1. Unfortunately, Villarta's run came to an end the following day vs. Shekinah Daffon from College of the Desert in the round of 16.

Villarta also saw action in the doubles side of the tourney. Teaming with partner Lexi Paunovic, the duo advanced to the round of 16 before narrowly missing out on a trip to the state tourney in a tough loss (6-7, 4-6) to the top-ranked duo of Logan Koitka and Madeline Veltri from Orange Coast College.

Canyons completed the regular season 13-3 overal and 12-0 in conference play to advance to win the conference title and advance to the postseason, both program firsts.

Hugo Amsallem / Men's Golf

Amsallem was a key part of a Cougars squad that played its way to the program's 11th consecutive Western State Conference (WSC) championship at the 36-hole conference finals held at Alisal River Golf Course on April 25.

The sophomore from New Caledonia, France carded a combined score of 145 (71/74) highlighted by his one-under par performance in the morning round, which placed him in a select group of five golfers that finished at least one round under par. That result tied with teammates Paul Hautbourg and Magnus Hansen for tourney runner-up status, just three shots behind the eventual event champion.

Amsallem was also named to the All-WSC team after finishing the regular season second in the individual standings, with an average score of 73 across 162 holes (nine rounds) of conference play. As a team, the Cougars were a combined 74-3 in team competition to bring home the program's 26th conference championship and advance to the CCCAA Southern California Regional Championships on May 9.

Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube