Hoover wins once again
SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — The Hoover High girls’ tennis completed the two-match Pacific League season sweep of archrival Glendale, 10-8, on Tuesday at Glendale.
The match was close and now the race for playoff spots among four of the five teams trying to nail down the Nos. 3 and 4 spots in league is even closer.
With Arcadia head and shoulders above the rest, Crescenta Valley is second in league at 6-2, while Glendale is third at 4-4, Hoover and Burbank are each 3-4 and Burroughs is 3-5.
“If we can have a good showing against [Burbank and Burroughs], we have a shot at playoffs,” said Hoover Coach Julie Hoppe, whose team meets Burbank today in a makeup match before taking on Burroughs on Thursday. “It’s really going to come down to the wire, but if it comes down to us and Glendale, we beat them twice, so that’s going to help us.”
Looking to even the score after a rare 11-7 loss to the Tornadoes at Hoover on Sept. 16, the Nitros found themselves trailing, 7-5, after the first two thirds of Tuesday’s rematch, but won three of the next four sets to even it at 8-8.
With Hoover maintaining a slight edge in games, Glendale would have needed to win both its final singles set and doubles set for a chance to win the match.
It would get neither, as Christine Adzhemyan outlasted Tatevik Hovhannisyan, 6-4, and the team of Zar Chavdarian and Lilit Manukyan beat Celicia McLean and Rochelle Lingat, 6-3, to clinch the win for Hoover.
“We would have had the edge by two games, but I never want to win in a tiebreak,” Hoppe said. “If we went to a tiebreak, I wouldn’t have been happy if we had won.
“It’s just frustrating. Our goal was to beat them by more than last time.”
Hoover (5-5) also got a big boost from No. 1 singles Arpe Bagumyan who notched a sweep, beginning with a 7-6 (7-4) win over Babakhanyan.
“You’ve got to give them credit, they won all the close sets,” said Glendale Coach Bob Davidson, who got a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 sweep from his No. 1 doubles Mariam Khachatyran and Hana Jang and a pair of 6-1 wins from No. 1 singles Adrine Babakhanyan. “I though that was the difference today. Their doubles played better today than they did last time against us.”
Deena Hovsepian and Collette Hamamah won two doubles sets for Hoover, as did Chavdarian and Manukyan.
Glendale (4-6) plays Crescenta Valley Thursday before a rematch with Burroughs on Oct. 19.
“If we beat Burroughs we’re in, but we barely squeaked by them last time,” Davidson said. “It’s gonna be a dogfight, no doubt.”