Burbank holds on for win

BURBANK HIGH — It was obvious early on that the boys’ tennis batch between Hoover and Burbank highs was going to be a close affair.

It was also apparent the Pacific League contest was likely going to come down to the Bulldogs singles versus the Tornadoes doubles.

Despite missing three players because of ineligibility and illness, Hoover was able stay with the defending league champions Thursday, staging a valiant comeback to make it close.

In the end, the Bulldogs were able to hang on for the victory, 9-9 (85-66 in games), at Burbank High.

“If [Hoover] has all of their regular players, there’s no way we win the match,” said Burbank Coach Loi Phan, whose team is 3-3, 2-2 in league. “Them not having those players made a big difference.

“But it’s a good win for us. Our guys didn’t roll over and we were able to come out on top.”

In the wake of her missing players, first-year Hoover Coach Julie Hoppe had to shuffle her lineup a bit. Her changes worked, for the most part, as the Tornadoes (2-6, 1-3) clawed their way back from an 8-6 deficit in the last of three sets to get right back in it.

“I’ve been happy with the way we’ve been playing,” Hoppe said.

Burbank was able to pull out the match on games largely due to the play of its top two singles players — No. 1 Arthur Karagezian and No. 2 Pete Sangsuriyakul — who both swept and dropped just three games between them.

While Sangsuriyakul, a sophomore, won, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0, Karagezian, a junior, won, 6-0, 6-2, 6-0.

“I knew when we first started playing that it was going to be a close match, and it was probably going to be 9-9,” Phan said. “It was a very good match for both sides.”

Hoover received a fine outing from its No. 1 doubles team of Arthur Zohrabians and Ejmin Mehramian, which swept, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4. The No. 2 team of Will Nelson and Juan Peralta won two, 6-2, 6-4.

With the Tornadoes leading, 9-8, the contest was decided by the final doubles match. Burbank’s No. 2 tandem of Brian Sin and Chris Dong needed to notch a victory against the No. 2 Hoover team of Edward Kim and Shero Beglarian to force the contest to games.

The Burbank pair was able to pull it out, winning its only set of the afternoon, 6-4.

The Bulldogs No. 3 doubles team of Danny Jung and Yihwan Kim won two, 6-3, 6-1.