Crescenta Valley boys’ tennis inches out St. Francis by eight games
LA CRESCENTA — Patrick Chmielewski and Adi Saravanan went to work with a hurdle to clear.
Needing a doubles victory, Chmielewski and Saravanan took care of business and put the Crescenta Valley High boys’ tennis team in position to win.
It proved to be a major turning point for Chmielewski and Saravanan, who picked up a 6-4 victory and helped host Crescenta Valley record a 9-9 (83-75) nonleague win against St. Francis.
The victory by Chmielewski and Saravanan gave the Falcons (15-2) a 9-8 lead. A 7-6(7-4) win in singles by Shahan Derbedrosian of St. Francis (5-10) tied it at 9, but the Falcons took the contest on games.
“It was definitely pretty intense, because we knew we had to go out there and win and give us a chance to close it out,” said Chmielewski, who worked with Saravanan earlier to record a 6-2 win. “We knew our set would be key.
“We got off to a very good start and then we played strong in the end.”
St. Francis gave Crescenta Valley, ranked fifth in CIF Southern Section Division II, all it could handle. The Golden Knights held a 7-5 lead through two rounds and seemed poised to topple the Falcons.
St. Francis received three singles wins from Ian Freer (6-0, 6-1, 6-0). Freer and his brother, Jack, were selected the All-Area Doubles Team of the Year last season after advancing to the Mission League final and the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Individual Tournament.
“That’s a very good CV team,” St. Francis coach Ron Zambrano said. “We held our own against them and we’ve been close in a lot of our matches this season.
“To see where CV is ranked in CIF, I’m proud with the way we played. It’s something that will look good for our team looking ahead.”
Crescenta Valley got two wins apiece in doubles from Drren Kim and Edward Ahn (6-2, 6-3) and Justin Kim and Maclean Lunt (6-2, 6-2). The Falcons also got one singles victory each from Kevin Rowe (6-1), Erik Babayan (6-1) and Carlos Vincencio (6-1).
St. Francis got two other wins from Derbedrosian (7-5, 6-4). The Golden Knights received two doubles victories from Daniel Crump and Cody Basso (7-5, 6-4) and one from Henry Peutet and Connor Basso (6-4).
“St. Francis has some top-notch singles players and we are good in singles, too,” Crescenta Valley coach Sam Hyun said. “We were able to dominate when we needed to in doubles and that was the key.
“We’ll take this match as a wake-up call and continue to practice more.”
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
