Bulldog duo falls in semifinals
VALENCIA ? In its final season as a member of the Foothill League, the Burbank High boys’ tennis team hoped to go out with a big finish.
However, the Bulldog singles players and doubles teams didn’t play their best in the league preliminaries and finals, as none were able to advance to championship matches.
The only Bulldogs who were able to survive the prelims Monday at the Paseo Club in Valencia and advance to Tuesday’s semifinals was the doubles team of Leo Kim and Tigran Yeremyan.
The junior duo defeated teams from Hart and Valencia in the opening two rounds Monday to qualify for the final day.
The second-seeded Bulldogs took on Otto DeGrief and Ryan Mendleson of Hart in Tuesday’s semifinal. The Burbank pair struggled at times in the match and was defeated, 6-1, 6-3.
“We didn’t play very well,” Yeremyan said. “We missed a lot of our volley shots.
“Being the No. 2 team, we thought that we should have made it to the finals. But that didn’t happen.”
The Bulldogs were their own worst enemy in the first game, as mistakes allowed the Hart players to take control.
The Bulldogs did play better in the early going of the second game, as they held a 3-0 advantage. However, they couldn’t keep the momentum going, dropping six straight games.
The team finished fourth after falling in the third-place match, 6-7, 4-6.
Burbank Coach Paul McNiff had high hopes for junior singles player Garn Sangsuriyakul, who finished third last season as a sophomore.
Sangsuriyakul started out well Monday by defeating Burroughs’ Taylor Campbell, 6-3, 6-3, in his opening match. But Sangsuriyakul ? who came into the competition with a 26-4 record ? fell in the second round to Valencia’s Ryan Lassila, 7-5, 3-6, 4-6.
“Garn still gets all-league honors,” McNiff said. “But I’m sure he would have liked to make it at least to the semifinals.”
Burroughs received a fine first-round result from Melik Nazilyan, who defeated Saugus’ Ari Berlin, 6-3, 6-3. He lost in the second round to Zack Zapaia of Valencia, 6-1, 6-0.
Burbank, which finished third in league in team competition, will compete in the CIF Southern Section Division II playoffs next week.