Golden Knights come up well short in doubles
NORTHWEST GLENDALE — It wasn’t hard to pinpoint where things went wrong for the St. Francis High tennis team on Friday afternoon.
A look at the score sheet indicated that the Golden Knights failed to win any of their nine doubles sets. While the Golden Knights are pretty solid in singles, getting the doubles teams up to par might take a long time.
St. Francis got three singles wins apiece from Vinni Lodolo and Jason Trueblood, but it wasn’t enough in an 11-7 loss to Crespi in a Mission League match at Fremont Tennis Center.
St. Francis (3-4, 1-2 in league) could have surely used a few wins in doubles to overcome Crespi (2-1, 1-1). However, the Celts clinched the victory when Joey Laskin and Max Segal posted a 7-5 victory against St. Francis’ Sean Finkelberg and Arman Hamamah.
“If you don’t win any of your doubles sets, then it’s going to be hard to win,” St. Francis Coach Ron Zambrano said. “We’ve got to keep practicing in doubles so that we can get better for the rest of the season.
“Credit Crespi because they were tough.”
The Golden Knights, who finished a match out of the playoffs last season after the Celts grabbed the third available postseason berth from the league, also lost a pair of tiebreakers to make the loss tougher to handle.
John Kazangian of St. Francis fell to Crespi’s Kiarash Shirazi, 7-6 (10-8), and St. Francis’ doubles team of Chris Ferris and Nima Adhami was handed a 7-6 (7-2) loss by Laskin and Segal.
“Those tiebreakers were tough, but it’s still going winless in doubles,” Zambrano said.
Lodolo, a senior and the reigning individual league champion, swept his three sets, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0, to improve to 15-0 on the season.
Trueblood also turned in an impressive effort. The senior also swept, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.
“Things just went my way to win those close sets,” Trueblood said. “I’d already been in some tough sets earlier.
“Things didn’t go our way. It’s going to be a learning experience for the guys, win or lose. Every match is going to be close.”
Kazangian, a freshman, picked up the other victory for the Golden Knights. He registered a 6-0 win against Britton Henriksen.
St. Francis will next compete in another league match at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday against Sherman Oaks Notre Dame at Fremont Tennis Center.
