Glendale Community College women’s tennis duo earns return trip to quarterfinals
For the second straight season, Glendale Community College’s Veronika Galstyan and Tsukimi Ono are in the midst of a deep run in the Ojai Invitational.
Galstyan and Ono won two sets Friday, including a nailbiter in a round-of-16 match at the women’s tennis state tournament to move on to the quarterfinals.
“It’s so great to see them get back to the quarterfinals and maybe they can go even farther now,” said Glendale Coach Deo Sy, whose team split the Western State Conference title with Santa Monica and Bakersfield and participated in the Southern California Regionals. “You watch a doubles team and they are either one team or two singles players. With Veronika and Tsukimi, they know each other’s tendencies and they know what they need to do to have success.”
Galstyan, a Glendale High product, and Ono will meet Diviana Bravo and Petra Such of Cerritos in a quarterfinal match at 1 p.m. Saturday at Ojai Athletic Club.
Galstyan and Ono started with a 6-2, 6-2 win against Sarah Kellog and Monica Poole of Modesto in a round-of-32 match. The tandem then survived its round-of-16 contest, besting Sarah Mae Garcia and Sam Paz of Irvine Valley, 6-3, 3-6, 10-8.
“That match had plenty of momentum turns and just kept going back and forth,” Sy said. “Veronika and Tsukimi were aggressive in the first set and I think they had some jitters in the second set. In the third set, they played for every point and made some big shots down the stretch.”
In addition to Galstyan and Ono, the Vaqueros had two other doubles teams and two singles players compete Friday.
In doubles, Hailey McNall and Kanako Kihara registered a 6-2, 6-4 win against Diana Barcelata and Jessica Berg of Canada in a round-of-32 contest. McNall and Kihara then fell, 6-0, 6-1, to Clarissa Colling and Karen Trinh of Orange Coast in a round-of-16 match.
Glendale’s Alexa Mendez and Melody Emmanouilidi fell to Kristina Parks and Dominique Willette of SaddleBack, 6-2, 7-6(7-2), in a round-of-32 match.
In singles, McNall opened with a 6-3, 6-1 win against Hana Papaco of Riverside. McNall then lost, 6-2, 6-0, to Symone Jacques of Modesto.
Ono dropped a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, decision to Miriam Lopez of De Anza in a round-of-32 match.
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
