Advertisement

Bulldogs dominate rival

Share

BURROUGHS HIGH — The cross-town rivalry girls’ tennis match Thursday between Burbank High and Burroughs reminded Indians Coach Roy Bernhardt of the past.

“Yeah, it kind of reminds me of the days when we used to get killed by the Burbank boys’ team,” he said. “Sometimes we were just hoping to get one win to avoid the shutout.”

The Indians were able to avoid the shutout — but just barely.

The Bulldogs swept all nine singles sets and were able to breeze to a 17-1 Pacific League victory at Burroughs.

Two matches into league, Burbank (3-0, 2-0 in league) is tied for first place with Arcadia, which defeated Crescenta Valley, 15-3, on Thursday.

Although the Bulldogs are undefeated, they haven’t faced much competition thus far. They defeated Glendale, 17-1, Tuesday in their league opener and had no trouble getting by Flintridge Prep, 15-3, last week. In all three contests, Burbank hasn’t surrendered a set in singles.

“Our singles really need the competition,” Burbank Coach Loi Phan said. “And they just haven’t been getting that against the first three teams that we played. They really need to be tested a little, so they will be ready when we play Arcadia and CV.”

The Burbank singles corps made easy work of the Indians (2-1, 1-1), dropping just five games. While No. 1 Meredy Gharabegi won her three sets, 6-0, 6-3, 6-0, No. 2 Ashley Basco notched 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 scores and Lilit Bardanyan had a 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 effort.

Gharabegi said she and her teammates were not affected by the fact they were taking on their cross-town rival.

“It’s not like in football where people want to kill the other team,” she said. “We just want to win, no matter who it’s against.”

The lone win of the afternoon was turned in by the Burroughs No. 2 doubles team, and that came via a tiebreaker, as Maria Garcia and Amanda Trinh earned a 7-6 (7-4) victory.

“I was rooting for us to get that one win,” Bernhardt said. “That was a tough one, but the girls were able to win in.”

The Burbank doubles teams also looked strong against the Indians. At No. 1, Elizabeth Sanchez and Gabrielle Markari earned a sweep, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3, as did the combination of Veronica Mendoza and Dana Gibson, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2. The team of Mackenzie Emi and Ellie Hiranara took two, 6-4, 6-2.

“I think our doubles are really coming together,” Phan said. “I think we have some good combinations. We are going to need those doubles to score some points against some of the tougher teams that we play.”

The teams will play one another again Oct. 2 at Burbank.

Advertisement