Crescenta Valley High boys’ tennis downed by Dos Pueblos in first round

After finishing tied for second in the Pacific League, the members of the Crescenta Valley High boys’ tennis team began their playoff journey Wednesday with a 110-mile trip north to scenic Goleta.

The Falcons entered their postseason contest against Dos Pueblos riding a wave of momentum after wrapping up the regular season with a league victory against Arcadia.

Though Crescenta Valley’s playoff run was cut short following a 15-3 defeat, Crescenta Valley second-year Coach Sam Hyun said the Falcons enjoyed a breakthrough campaign.

“I’m satisfied with the way we played this season,” said Hyun, whose team finished 11-5. “We had some very good experiences in beating teams in our league such as Glendale and Arcadia and then going up against a very good Dos Pueblos team.

“It’s going to be good for us going into next year because we will have nine players coming back and we will bring up some people from the junior varsity team. Dos Pueblos just has a very strong team and their Nos. 1 and 2 singles players are very solid.”

The Falcons, who tied for second with Glendale in league but went into the playoffs as the third seed out of the league because Glendale won 20 of 36 head-to-head sets against Crescenta Valley, picked up singles victories from Albert Chtchyan (6-2) and Eric Kim (6-2). Crescenta Valley also received a 6-2 doubles victory from Aren Abrahamian and Jason Chang.

Unfortunately for the Falcons, they couldn’t completely solve Dos Pueblos, which improved to 17-3 after winning the Channel League championship.

Crescenta Valley competed without No. 2 singles player Jonathan Frink, who was taking an advanced placement test at school.

“Not having Jonathan set us back a little bit because he’s one of our top players,” Hyun said. “We went out there and gave it our best.

“We tried really hard in doubles, but it just didn’t go our way. Dos Pueblos was very good in doubles.”

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Follow Charles Rich on Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich .