Glendale tennis earns spot in playoffs with win over Burroughs
BURBANK — Since defeating Burroughs High last month, the Glendale girls’ tennis team has been preparing for the rematch.
“Since we got off the bus after the first time that we played them, we have been thinking about our second match with them,” Glendale first-year coach Tom Gossard said. “We knew that we were probably going to have to beat them again a second time to make it to the playoffs.
“So, since then, we have been preparing and getting ready to do what we had to to beat them again.”
With an automatic CIF Southern Section playoff berth on the line, the Nitros hosted the Indians Thursday afternoon.
Both teams’ coaches shuffled their lineups a bit since the first meeting, but the final result was much the same. Led by a doubles sweep, Glendale defeated Burroughs, 11-7, to secure fourth place in league and with it the final automatic postseason berth.
Glendale (11-6, 6-6 in league), which defeated Burroughs (5-8, 4-8) on Sept 26, 10-8, will head to the playoffs for the first time in three seasons. In 2016, the Nitros won just two league contests and finished sixth.
“From May 1 when I took over to today, the change and the improvement in this team has just been incredible,” said Gossard, who coached at Crescenta Valley from 1995-2009, leading the Falcons to nine league titles. “These girls have become a real team and they have learned what it takes to compete.”
The Indians needed to win by a score of 11-7 or better to grab the final playoff spot. Instead, the Indians finish fifth.
“We talked about it yesterday and the girls knew how important this one was today,” Burroughs coach Roy Bernhardt said. “It was more about supporting one another and going out there and having fun. We just wanted them to be relaxed and not to be too tight.”
The Nitros, ranked No. 2 in Division IV, and Indians were knotted at 3 after the first round, with Glendale winning all its sets in doubles and the Indians earning their three in singles.
But in the second round, Glendale’s Kristen Lee defeated Jackie Samsell in singles to give the Nitros a 7-5 advantage. Lee also won one other set, 6-3.
In doubles, the Nitros dominated. While the No. 1 team of Celine Khachiki and Michelle Yoylan won, 6-3, 6-3, 6-0, the No. 2 duo of Emi Guzman and Mo-Mo Guzman also swept, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2, as did Elen Ghazaryan and Moria Mailed, 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).
“Making the playoffs is everything to us,” Yoylan said. “That was our main goal coming into this year.
“Coach has everything to do with how we’ve done this year. He is the person who has led us here. Without him we would have never made it.”
For the Burroughs singles, Chloe Bookmyer swept, 6-0, 6-1, 6-0, while Samsell took two, 6-0, 6-1, as did Sandy LeMay, 6-0, 6-0.
Twitter: @jefftsports
