Glendale girls’ tennis opens league with victory against Burroughs
Though the Glendale High girls’ tennis team has had Burroughs’ number for the last two seasons, the teams have battled it out until late in matches in their recent meetings.
In a Pacific League opener, Glendale and host Burroughs were at it once again, and the Nitros held a two-set advantage over the Indians after the second of three rounds.
Backed by a sweep in singles by junior Celine Khachiki, Glendale won its fifth straight league match over Burroughs with a 12-6 victory to start league play.
“Burroughs always plays tough doubles and they always have good singles that fight,” Glendale coach Tom Gossard said. “Burroughs is competitive. Even if we have more talent, this 12-6 score is much closer than it looks.
“We’re getting there. We have a week off now and we play Arcadia next week.”
The Nitros, who started the season with nonleague wins against Saugus and South Pasadena for a 3-0 start, led, 4-2, after the first round of sets, then maintained its lead going 3-3 in the second round to set up a 7-5 advantage.
Nitros No. 2 doubles pair of Karen Enrigue and Eleen Garamanian held off Indians No. 3 duo Isabella Munguia and Kaitlyn Glaim, 6-4, to prevent Burroughs from tying the overall match heading into the final round.
“I think they were a bit nervous,” said Burroughs coach Roy Bernhardt, whose Indians team played their first match of the season. “I did have some surprises. Like Gossard said, it was a lot closer than the score was. I was kind of disappointed in my No. 2 doubles. They were MVPs for JV last year, but this is varsity.
“My No. 1 doubles I knew were going to do well. They just squeaked by the first set and won on the tie-break. In singles, I really had a question because I had two ninth-graders that played, and of course, the ninth-graders were nervous.”
Khachiki, who advanced to last year’s league tournament semifinals, won her sets, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0, which gave Gossard a little bit of comfort if the match was to be settled in games.
“I expected it to be as competitive as it was because we’ve been playing really closely these past two years,” Khachiki said. “I still expected to play well and for our team to compete well. I just tried to hit my shots and play my regular game regardless of who I was playing.”
Burroughs received a sweep in doubles by No. 1 pair Alice Weber and Suzy Kim, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, 6-0.
“We weren’t nervous,” Weber said. “We were just kind of playing how we usually play.”
The duo held off Nitros No. 1 doubles pair of Momo Guzman and Nicole Avakian in the first round. The Glendale duo battled to force the tie-breaking set, but Weber and Kim set up an early lead in the tie-break to fend off the Nitros.
“We just took it point by point rather than just saying ‘Oh my gosh, we have to win by seven,’” Kim said. “As long as we got the next point, we just kept on going.”
Guzman and Avakian won their final two sets, 6-2, 6-2, and Enrique and Garemanian added a a 6-0 win to bolster the Glendale lead. Nitros No. 3 doubles Janet Louie and Anna Sarookhanian also won two sets, 6-4, 6-4.
Glendale No. 3 singles player Ani Harutyunyan won a pair of sets, 6-3, 6-1.
Burroughs No. 1 singles Isabella Harris-Bermudez won a set, 6-3, and No. 2 Lauren Pieri and No. 3 singles Elane Shane each won a set, 6-1.