Girls’ Tennis Preview: Uphill climb for local squads
Before competing in a Pacific League match, Crescenta Valley High girls’ tennis Coach Sam Hyun predicted the league will be formidable again.
Four teams — Arcadia, Burbank, Crescenta Valley and Burroughs — qualified for the CIF Southern Section Division II playoffs last season. Arcadia defeated Valencia Valencia to win the CIF championship.
“I’m sure the league will be tough once again,” said Hyun, whose team took third and beat Carpinteria in a wild-card match before falling to Arroyo Grande in the first round. “You’ve got Arcadia back with most of its players and they will be tough to beat, so the goal will be to shoot for second place. We’ll try hard to get that spot and I have high hopes.
“Burbank will also be very good. We have a lot of depth and experience. We’ll just have to keep improving day by day and see where we finish.”
Crescenta Valley will return junior singles player Marina Saroyan, who went 21-17, 17-15 in league to pick up All-Area accolades last season. She will be joined by senior Marie Arutyunyan and sophomore Crete Polin. Crescenta Valley’s top doubles team will probably be juniors Rachel Shin and Michelle Jung. They will replace Ashley An and Alexa Voskani, who graduated after securing All-Area honorees.
Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy won’t get a shot at defending its Sunshine League championship because it will return to the competitive Mission League for the first time since 2013. Flintridge Sacred Heart split the league title with Immaculate Heart last season after winning it outright in 2014.
The Tologs completed their successful run in the Sunshine League, warranting a move back to the Mission League despite losing most of their players to graduation after reaching the first round of the Division IV playoffs under veteran coach Ron Zambrano.
“We’re sorry to be leaving the Sunshine League after having quite a bit of success,” said Zambrano, who is the reigning two-time All-Area Girls’ Tennis Coach of the Year. “We’ll be coming back to the Mission League and be facing some top teams like Harvard-Westlake, Marlborough and [Sherman Oaks] Notre Dame and we don’t have many returners.
“We’ll know who we are going up against and we’ll have some good tests, so we just having to keep working hard.”
Flintridge Sacred Heart will bring back singles players Kate Hodges and Ellen Lee. The Tologs will also return senior Margaux Blain and sophomore Deana Als in doubles. Blaine received All-Area honors after teaming with Holly MacVaugh to finish 36-5 and 27-1 in the Sunshine League and reach the semifinals in the league tournament last season.
Flintridge Prep will begin its second season under coach Morisa Yang after just missing out on qualifying for the Division III playoffs. Flintridge Prep and rival Pasadena Poly finished tied for third in the Prep League, leading to the teams meeting in a play-in match. Pasadena Poly prevailed, 11-7.
Yang, who guided the school’s boys’ team to the playoffs last season for the first time since 2012, said the Rebels are in position to learn from last season’s fate.
“We just missed and we’ll look to learn from that experience,” Yang said. “We’ll have a lot of players back and they’re excited to get going.
“I feel like we have a lot of very good players and they’ll continue to work hard. We want that to lead to a better outcome.”
Flintridge Prep will return junior Crystal Juan, the reigning All-Area Girls’ Singles Player of the Year. Juan finished 49-5, 21-5 last season.
“We’re looking to get her to the CIF Individual Tournament,” Yang said. “She’s been participating in a lot of tournaments since the end of last season and she’s been training hard.”
Hoover and Glendale didn’t qualify for the playoffs last season. The Tornadoes and Nitros finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in the Pacific League.
Hoover will look to pick up the pace with the return of singles player Jessica Chung. Chung, a senior, received All-Area recognition after going 32-16, 20-16.
Chung will be joined in singles by senior Loria Denton and freshman Sophia Flippin.
“We’re still a little rusty from having not played for some time,” Hoover second-year Coach Yeprem Chavdarian said. “We’re looking to pick up the pace so we’ll be better prepared.
“It’s about how much effort they are willing to put in and I’m seeing that they are working hard at practice. They understand what’s at stake and they want to all improve.”
Glendale will begin its second straight season with a new coach. Grace Sheldon-Williams takes over for John Tuttle, who succeeded longtime coach Bob Davidson.
Sheldon-Williams, who has been the school’s choir teacher for 26 years, said she’d like to have the Nitros make a climb in league.
“We have a group of highly motivated players and we think we can move up,” Sheldon-Williams said. “I’m going to try to help them achieve that.”
Glendale will bring back its top doubles team of senior Kavitha Ambatipudi and junior Emi Guzman. The Nitros’ top singles players will likely be senior Eva Charakchyan and sophomore Kristen Lee.
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Charles Rich, charles.rich@latimes.com
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
