Burbank singles player, doubles team advance to league tennis semifinals
PASADENA — Nicole Merrit suffered the disappointment of being unable to participate in the Pacific League Tournament last season after falling ill prior to the girls’ tennis competition.
Merrit enjoyed success in past tournaments, placing third in singles four years ago as a freshman and was part of a Burbank High doubles team that captured a league championship as a sophomore.
After missing out as a junior, Merrit was hoping to find success as a senior in the tournament, which began with the first two rounds Monday at Pasadena High.
Playing doubles with Johana Faraj, the Bulldogs tandem shook off some early jitters, won its first two matches and earned a spot in the semifinals Wednesday at the same venue, which will be followed by the finals.
Merrit and Faraj, a junior, will join freshman teammate Kristina Kirakosyan, who earned a spot in the singles final four.
Arcadia, the Pacific League team champion and defending CIF Southern Section titlist, had players earn five of the eight singles and doubles semifinal spots.
Merrit and Faraj’s semifinal opponent will be No. 3 Angela Qiu and Sunny Ng of Arcadia, who won their two sets, 6-0, 6-0, and 6-0, 6-1. The other semifinal will pit two Apaches squads, No. 1 Michelle Deng and Lauren Ko taking on teammates No. 4 Angel Pan and Sydney Tran.
In the singles semifinals, Kirakosyan will take on No. 3 Jourdan Wallace of Pasadena, who won her two sets, 6-1, 6-1, and 6-0, 6-0. Kirakosyan and Wallace split their two head-to-head meetings this season. The other semifinal will feature top-seeded Rachelle Yang of Arcadia taking on teammate and No. 4 Cloe Barberi.
Merrit, who played at No. 1 singles for Burbank, helping it place second in the Pacific League, teamed up with Faraj for the first time.
“We haven’t had much practice together, so it kind of took a little bit to let the nerves go and start playing together,” Merrit said. “But once we got over that, we were good.
“Playing doubles is different, but I like playing with Johana. We were supposed to play together last year and I really feel this is our second chance this year. I’m really excited to see what we can do together.”
The Bulldogs duo, seeded No. 2, opened with a first-round win against No. 15 Marie Arutyunyan and Marina Saroyan of Crescenta Valley, 7-5, 6-0. Merrit and Faraj than defeated No. 7 Jenny Drechsler and Sandy Le May of Burroughs, 6-2, 6-2, in the second round.
Burbank came close to having a second doubles team qualify for the semifinals, but No. 5 Alice Avedikian and Elza Vardanyan lost in a second-round tie-breaker, 2-6, 6-1 (10-1) to Arcadia’s Pan and Tran. The duo began with a first-round win against No. 12 Jessica Chung and Sophia Flippin of Hoover, 6-1, 6-1.
Kirakosyan, at No. 2, rolled though her opening match, dispatching No. 15 Victoria Dikeos of Pasadena, 6-0, 6-0. The freshman then downed No. 7 Chloe Bookmyer of Burroughs in the second round, 6-0, 6-1.
“I think everything was working well for me today,” Kirakosyan said. “I got nervous in the beginning because this is my first time playing in high school, but I got over that. I think it went pretty well.”
Burroughs had two players advance past the second round in singles. Bookmyer won her opener against No. 10 Kristin Lee of Glendale, 6-0, 6-0, and No. 8 Jackie Samsell opened by downing No. 9 Bella Stevens of Burbank, 6-2, 6-3, before losing to Yang, 6-1, 6-0.
“It’s really cool to be a part of this tournament,” Bookmyer said. “I was kind of nervous being a freshman, but it really turned out to be a lot of fun for me.”
Losing in the first round of singles competition was No. 16 Britni Feldman of Burbank, who was bested by Yang, 6-0, 6-0, No. 12 Shushan Papoyan of Burbank, who lost to No. 5 Polin Crete of Crescenta Valley, 6-0, 6-1, and No. 13 Savannah Dorris of Burroughs, who lost to Barberi, 6-0, 6-1.
In the opening round of doubles, No. 8 Krystal Hirahara and Emilie Siraki of Burbank lost to No. 9 Camille Gibney and Kiran Hamkins of Crescenta Valley, 6-4, 6-0, Drechsler and Le May defeated No. 10 Kavitha Ambatipidi and Emi Guzman of Glendale, 6-3, 6-1, the No. 11 team of Camryn Thompson and Emma Jones of Burroughs lost to No. 6 Rachel Shin and Michelle Jung of Crescenta Valley, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, and the No. 14 team of Annie Yoo and Leah Prystupa lost to Qiu and Ng, 6-0, 6-0.
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Jeff Tully, jeff.tully@latimes.com
Twitter: @jefftsports