Glendale High boys’ tennis picks up all-important win against Hoover
GLENDALE — Things have begun to heat up approaching the midway point of Pacific League. It’s led to a group of area boys’ tennis teams being all bunched together for second place.
Glendale turned to its talented doubles teams to join the pack on Tuesday, winning eight sets en route to a 12-6 home win against cross-town rival Hoover.
By virtue of Glendale’s victory, it is now tied for second at 4-2 in league with Hoover and Crescenta Valley. Crescenta Valley suffered an 11-7 home league defeat against Arcadia (6-0 in league) on Tuesday.
“It’s all going to be real close heading down the stretch,” said Glendale Coach Bob Davidson, whose team improved to 6-3. “That’s just the way it probably will be.
“If we win our match [Tuesday[ against Hoover, then we are tied for second. A loss would have dropped us down to fourth place and made things a lot harder.”
Glendale received stellar performances in doubles from its Nos. 1 and 2 teams of David Casaburi and Mheir Krikorian and Mike Akopians and Nick Zatikian, respectively, to turn aside Hoover (6-5). Casaburi and Krikoriam swept, 6-4, 6-0, 6-1. Akopians and Zatikian, a freshman recently called up from the junior varsity team, worked together to also sweep (6-1, 6-1, 6-2).
The Nitros also got two wins in doubles from Matt Davidian and Artiom Ambartsoumian (6-0, 6-1).
“The doubles definitely made the difference,” said Davidson, whose team will meet Hoover again on May 1 at Hoover. “Mheir and David played solid and Nick and Mike also played great.
“Those guys were the keys and provided us with a huge plus.”
Glendale received a pair of singles wins from Arin Meserkhani (6-2, 6-0) and one victory apiece from Davo Ismailian (6-2) and Melvin Issael (6-3).
The Tornadoes, who qualified for the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs last season, got a sweep in singles from standout Emile Ohanyan (6-2, 6-1, 6-0). They also received two singles victories from Hrant Aghanyan (6-1, 6-2) and a 7-5 doubles win from Chris Ghadimi and Derik Khosorryan.
Unfortunately for the Tornadoes, it wasn’t enough to match the Nitros.
“It was 3-3 after the first round and I thought we had a good shot at being up at 4-2,” Hoover Coach Julie Hoppe said. “I had to mix a few things up and try some different lineup combinations.
“It might be tough right now, but we still have some time to turn things around and get back on track. We’ll see how things will go, but it’s tight right now in league.”
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Follow Charles Rich on Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich .
