Crescenta Valley boys’ tennis earns singles, doubles league semifinal berths
BURBANK — The Crescenta Valley High boys’ tennis doubles team of Jun Augustine and Patrick Chemielewski went the distance in the opening rounds of the Pacific League Tournament at Burroughs on Monday.
The senior duo entered the event as the fifth seed and won a tie-breaking set in the opening round before facing teammates and fourth-seeded Justin Kim and Mclean Lunt in the second round.
The Falcons’ duo of Augustine and Chemielewski pulled off the upset, defeating Kim and Lunt, 6-3, 5-7 (10-8) to reach the tournament’s semifinal round for the only upset of the early rounds.
Augustine and Chemielewski will be joined by Crescenta Valley singles player Carlos Vicencio in Thursday’s league semifinals at 1 p.m. at Burroughs.
The fourth-seeded Vicencio also faced a Crescenta Valley teammate in the second round, with the junior winning, 6-1, 6-1, over No. 5 Eric Babayan.
Normally, the No. 3 doubles duo for Crescenta Valley, which finished second in league, Augustine and Chemielewski felt confident after they took the first set from Kim and Lunt, the usual No. 1 pair.
“[Kim and Lunt have] always been better than us in the past, so we just wanted to come out and give it our best try,” Chemielewski said. “I think that outlook on the set helped us to perform better.
“In the past, they got the better of us, but I think it’s just because we know their strengths and weaknesses that made the set more comfortable. We just took advantage of that from the start.”
The Falcons’ fifth-seed led the tie-breaker, 9-6, before the fourth-seed mounted a comeback and made it a one-point set.
“We realized our best options on how to approach the shots,” Augustine said. “From the previous sets, we tried to see what really gives us the points. So we tried our best to get those points the same way”
Augustine and Chemielewski won, 6-0, 4-6, 10-6, in the opening round against 12th-seeded Greg Gevojanyan and Daniel Khrlobian of Burbank.
The duo will face the tournament’s No. 1-seed in Herman Sham and Luke Feng of Arcadia in a semifinal match.
The Apaches pair advanced after a 6-0, 6-0 victory against Arcadia teammates and 16th-seed Ryan Hau and Winston Li.
Vicencio met 13th-seed Kyle Lester of Burroughs in the opening round of singles play and won, 6-1, 6-1, before the junior faced Babayan.
“We play almost every day at practice, so I know his strengths and weaknesses,” Vincencio said. “I aimed for the backhand and was aggressive on his serves. Playing him was fun because it was just no pressure. I was just relaxed out there.”
Vincencio will face the reigning Pacific League champion and No. 1-seed Matthew Feng of Arcadia in the semifinals.
“My goal was to just play consistent and play aggressive with a lot of first serves in because, with the second serve, they’re just going to hit it hard,” Vincencio said. “I just wanted to make it to the second day because of last year’s senior Kevin Rowe. I just wanted to show him up.”
Rowe finished third in the tournament in 2018.
As Crescenta Valley faces the top seeds in both the singles and doubles semifinals, Crescenta Valley coach Sam Hyun said he’s optimistic after the way his players approached the first two rounds.
“I’m so happy and glad for the semifinals in singles and doubles, especially the doubles side,” Hyun said. “They’re what I call our dark horse — our underdog.
“Last Thursday, they defeated Arcadia’s No. 2 doubles, then they came in today and beat our No. 1 doubles. Our Crescenta Valley team is happy. As a Crescenta Valley tennis coach, I’m happy. We’ll see how they do Thursday.”
Third-seed Vincent Leong will face Arcadia teammate Jun Nakamine, the second-seed, in the other singles semifinal. Arcadia will also occupy the other semifinal in doubles, with third-seed Jimmy Liu and Hellman Zhao facing second-seed Markis Cheng and Spencer Cheung.
All of the higher seeds in the opening round of singles play won their opening matches in straight sets.
Babayan reached the second round when he defeated 12th-seed Hakop Kerimyan of Burbank, 6-3, 6-2. Hoover senior and 14th-seed Edward Markosian fell, 6-3, 6-1, to Arcadia senior and third-seed Vincent Leon. Burroughs junior and sixth-seed Sam Bernardy won, 6-2, 6-1, against 11th-seed Yash Desai of Burbank before falling to Leong, 6-3, 6-0. Seventh-seed Jacob Lee of Crescenta Valley advanced after a 6-1, 6-0 victory against 10th seed Abasi Abakusumo before falling to Nakamine, 6-2, 6-0, while 16th-seed Richard Mirzoian of Glendale fell 6-0, 6-0, to Feng. Glendale senior and eighth-seed Marko Ratkovic defeated ninth-seed Cody Bowlin of Pasadena, 6-4, 6-2, before falling to Feng, 6-0, 6-1, and 15th-seed Blake Hildebrandt fell, 6-0, 6-0, to Nakamine.
In doubles action, Kim and Lunt won, 6-0, 6-1, against 13th-seed Cameron Flowers and Sebastian Muga of Burroughs. Sixth-seed Ho-Min Lee and Adi Saravanan of Crescenta Valley came out on top, 6-4, 6-1, over No. 11 Mark Do and Trieu Nguyen of Burroughs before losing the No. 3 from Arcadia Jimmy Liu and Hellmen Zhao, 6-1, 6-1. Eighth-seeded Parker Katz and Dominc Sumera of Burbank won, 6-2, 6-3, over ninth-seeded Daniel Cho and Rafael Munguia of Burroughs before falling to Sham and Feng, 6-1, 6-1. Burbank No, 7 seed Sid Denduluri and Ethan Lee won, 6-4, 6-1, against 10th-seed Justin Byron and Andres Hermina of Glendale before falling to Cheng and Cheung, 6-0, 6-0, and No 15 Anthony Ghadmina and Vahe Halebian of Hoover fell, 6-0, 6-1, to second-seed Markis Cheng and Spencer Cheung of Arcadia.
Twitter: @ReporterVince