Sarkissian, Campbell move forward

GLENDALE — Glendale Community College men’s tennis doubles players Alex Sarkissian and Trevor Campbell repeatedly proved that they could dominate during the regular-season portion of Western State Conference play.

The duo showed it could also do the same in the conference tournament.

Sarkissian and Campbell punched their ticket to the Southern California Regionals by sweeping their two sets on Friday at Ventura College. The top-seeded doubles team earned a first-round bye and automatically qualified for the round-of-16, which will be played today. However, Sarkissian and Campbell opted to compete against Kevin Paul and AJ Minasian of L.A. Pierce on Friday.

Sarkissian and Campbell, a Burroughs High graduate, hardly broke a sweat, as they cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win.

The duo will participate in the regionals, which will be held May 5-7 in Palm Desert.

“It was easy and they just have played so well together throughout the entire season,” Glendale Coach Bob MacKay said. “They just don’t give you any games.”

The Vaqueros had some mixed results on a warm afternoon.

In singles, the top-seeded Sarkissian had a first-round bye before posting a 6-1, 6-0 win against Jose Thomas of Bakersfield in a second-round match.

Campbell, the eighth seed, also had a first-round bye. He then cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 victory against Nathan Crosby of Pierce.

Sarkissian and Campbell will each participate in round-of-16 matches at 11 a.m. today. If they win, they will also take part in the regionals.

“Alex and Trevor in singles are both very good,” said MacKay, whose team finished second in conference behind Ventura College and will await to see if it will be invited to the Southern California Regionals, which will begin Tuesday. “They went out there in their matches and did what they should do.”

Two Glendale doubles teams advanced to the round-of-16 competition in Eric Khanlarian and Andre Ratavousian and Grayson Frazier and Mike Astorian.

Ratavousian and Khanlarian picked up a 6-2, 6-4 first-round win against Thomas and Cesar Ruiz of Bakersfield.

Frazier and Astorian had a first-round bye.

Ratavousian and Khanlarian and Frazier and Astorian will partake in round-of-16 matches at 2 p.m. today.

Ratavousian and Khanlarian will meet a third-seeded team from Pierce, while Frazier and Astorian will compete against a seventh-seeded team from Ventura.

Astorian, Dro Mahmoudi, Khanlarian, Ratavousian, Frazier and Stephan Mamann also competed in singles for the Vaqueros on Friday.

Astorian, a Glendale High graduate, opened with a 6-3, 7-6 (9-7) victory against Michael Rodriquez of Bakersfield. He then suffered a 6-0, 6-2 loss against Gabriel Vlahos of Ventura.

Mahmoudi, a Crescenta Valley High graduate, fell to fourth-seeded Sean Levesque, 6-0, 6-1, of Ventura.

Khanlarian, a Crescenta Valley graduate, drew a first-round bye before falling, 6-1, 6-0, to seventh-seeded Thomas Millet of Ventura.

After earning a first-round bye, Frazier, a La Cañada High graduate, fell, 6-3, 6-3, to Daniel Busenhart of Pierce.

Ratavousian, a Hoover High graduate, had a first-round bye. However, he then suffered a 6-2, 6-3 loss to second-seeded Moises Cardenas of Pierce.

Mamann earned a first-round bye, but then lost, 6-1, 7-5, to Gofur Sirojiddino of Pierce.

MacKay said Astorian, Mahmoudi, Khanlarian, Ratavousian, Frazier and Mamann appeared rusty Friday.

“They were not as sharp as they could have been,” MacKay said. “They went out there and did the best they could.”