Burbank girls’ tennis doubles team falls in third round.

The Burbank High girls’ tennis doubles team of Ashley Basco and Meredy Gharabegi was rewarded with a bye when the players received their draw in Monday’s CIF Southern Section Individuals Tournament at Whittier Narrows Tennis Center.

However, with a bye in the first round, the Bulldogs duo had to endure a long wait to play its second-round match.

“We ended up waiting for four hours to play,” Basco said. “It was painful to have to wait around for that long. We were down at the bottom of the bracket and there weren’t enough courts, so we just had to wait around.”

Fortunately for Basco, a senior, and Gharabegi, a junior, the wait didn’t lead to a poor showing in the second round. In fact, the Burbank team breezed to a relatively easy 6-2, 6-0 victory against Nana Akahoshi and Nancy Liang (No. 2 from the Almont League) of San Gabriel.

However, the team wasn’t as fortunate in the third round. Basco and Gharabegi ran into a tough opponent, suffering a 6-2, 6-1 loss to Sachi Carlson and Sara Khattab (No. 2 from the Bay League) of Peninsula.

“I thought they could have played better in that third round,” Burbank Coach Loi Phan said of his team. “But there’s no way they were going to win. That Peninsula team was just too good.”

It was the third straight year that Basco and Gharabegi were able to qualify for individual postseason competition. Last year, the duo was also eliminated in the third round.

“Third round, same as last year,” Basco said. “We were hoping to go at least one more round.”

Both Basco and Gharabegi spent the majority of the season playing singles for Burbank. But as in the past two seasons, Phan paired them up for the Pacific League tournament to give them a chance to play in individual competition. The pair advanced to the league-title match and finished runner-up.

The duo also helped the Bulldogs place second in the Pacific League behind champion Arcadia, which advanced to the Division II championship.