Crescenta Valley tennis completes sweep of Glendale
LA CRESCENTA — In the final week of the regular season, the Crescenta Valley High and Glendale girls’ tennis teams are both sitting in the driver’s seat.
The Falcons have locked up second place in the Pacific League behind Arcadia, while Glendale currently holds down the fourth spot in league. Both teams are ranked in the top two of their respective CIF Southern Section divisions, as well. Crescenta Valley and Glendale met for the second and final time Tuesday with longtime Falcons coach Tom Gossard making his return to CV for the first time as the Nitros coach.
Crescenta Valley won all nine singles sets, including three from Emily Borkowski, to post a 14-4 home victory.
The Falcons (10-3, 9-2 in league) recorded a 16-2 win at Glendale (9-6, 5-6) on Sept. 23. The Falcons are the top-ranked team in Division III and the Nitros are No. 2 in Division IV.
“We have a team that’s doing real well right now,” said Borkowski, who lost just one game Tuesday. “Our singles and doubles teams are playing very well and we want to keep that going in the playoffs.
“We feel like we have some good momentum going and we just want to finish up strong, going into the league tournament [Monday and Wednesday at Burroughs].”
Crescenta Valley wraps up league Thursday with a home match against Pasadena. Glendale will take on visiting Burroughs on Thursday. A victory by Glendale would give it fourth place and an automatic spot in the playoffs.
Gossard returned to Crescenta Valley for the first time since coaching the Falcons from 1995-2009. The Falcons won or shared nine league championships under Gossard’s tutelage.
“It’s good to come back,” said Gossard, a Crescenta Valley graduate. “Before the match started, we had the introductions of the two teams and [Crescenta Valley coach] Sam [Hyun] pointed over to the championship sign on the court and told them about what I did here. It was a very classy thing to do by Sam.”
Crescenta Valley got singles wins from Melissa Muradoglu (6-0, 6-0), Poln Crete (6-1, 6-1), Anjana Srivanan (6-1) and Melika Mohammadlou (6-2).
“Our singles players have been coming through,” said Hyun, whose team reached the quarterfinals last season. “We got a real good test in doubles from Glendale and they stacked their doubles lineup real well.
“Our girls know we are ranked No. 1 in the division. We have to play like we’re No. 1, just like we have to practice like we’re No. 1. We faced the No. 1 team in Alhambra and we beat them. So, we have to continue to be sharp and keep practicing.”
The Falcons received doubles victories from Rachel Shin and Michelle Jung (6-1, 6-4). The duo was selected the All-Area Girls’ Doubles team of the Year last season.
Crescenta Valley also picked up wins in doubles from Camille Gibney and Kiran Hamkins (6-4, 6-2) and Marina Saroyan and Leah Baghdassarian (6-4).
Glendale got two doubles wins from Kristen Lee and Celine Khachiki (7-5, 6-4) and one each from Emi and Momo Guzman (6-0) and Nicole Avakian and Michelle Yolyan (6-4).
“I thought we competed well today,” Gossard said. “We still have a match with Burroughs and we’ll look to get that fourth spot in league and be ranked high in our division.”
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
