Glendale girls’ tennis pulls out close match against Hoover
GLENDALE — With about three sets remaining, the calculator function on the smart phones of the Glendale High and Hoover girls’ tennis players and coaches came into play.
The rivals frantically began to tally up games just in case there was a tie in Thursday afternoon’s Pacific League contest.
Fortunately for visiting Glendale, total games did not come into play, as the Nitros won the final two sets and defeated their crosstown rival, 10-8.
The victory was the first of the season for the Nitros, who improved to 1-3 overall and in league. Hoover (0-4, 0-3) will have an opportunity to notch its first triumph Friday against Pasadena Marshall Fundamental.
“It was a little too close for comfort,” Glendale first-year Coach Grace Sheldon-Williams said. “It got a little nervous, but we were confident we were going to win and it’s amazing to get win No. 1.”
Glendale led, 9-8, heading into the final set as the Nitros’ No. 3 doubles squad of Eva Charakchyan and Moira Mailed took on Hoover’s No. 2 of Emily Hortananian and Sara Gharibian. Charakchyan and Mailed started strong in going up, 5-1, before weathering a 2-0 run. Finally, the Glendale pair iced the victory, 6-3.
“There was a lot of pressure on us, but we pulled through and we won,” said Charakchyan, who went 2-1 with Mailed. “We’re real excited about it, because we’ve never lost to Hoover.”
Even though Glendale entered up, 9-8, heading into the final set, the Tornadoes led, 66-61, in games and would have taken the match via the total games tiebreaker had they won the final set.
“We were relatively calm,” Mailed said. “I knew that if we stayed consistent, then they’d eventually lose. There was some pressure because they’re our rival and we never lost to them. So, we didn’t want to be the first group.”
Glendale led, 7-5, after two rounds, but Hoover won three of the first four sets of the third round and pulled even at 8 after a 6-1 victory from the No. 3 doubles team of Kavika Kapoor and Michelle Sirekanyan.
The Nitros responded with victories, though, in their final two doubles sets for the victory.
Glendale finished 7-2 in doubles sets, while Hoover was 6-3 in singles action.
Hoover’s Jessica Chung finished 3-0 with 6-0, 6-0, 6-1 wins, while Sophia Flippin was also 3-0 with 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 wins.
On the doubles side, Glendale’s Emi Guzman and Kavitha Ambatipudi finished 3-0 with 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 wins, while Ani Azaraian and Elen Gharazaryan (6-3, 6-1, 1-6) finished 2-1.
“We were missing a couple of kids because of injuries, so I feel like the next time we play Glendale, we’ll be stronger,” Hoover Coach Yeprem Chavdarian said. “We learned a lot from this match and we were really close.”
