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Hoover season comes to close

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GLENDALE — Their playoff run lasted one match, but the members of the Hoover High boys’ tennis team might have a solid foundation to return to the postseason in the coming years.

Hoover battled until the final day of the season and finished fifth in the Pacific League, one spot short of earning an automatic playoff berth. Then it found out it would be making its first postseason appearance since 2003 when the CIF office unveiled its playoff pairings.

Hoover battled once more, but saw its season come to a close with an 11-7 loss to host Anaheim Canyon on Tuesday afternoon in a CIF Southern Section Division II wild-card match.

“It’s a good way to end our season by playing in a competitive match,” Hoover Coach Julie Hoppe said. “It’s our first trip to the playoffs in a long time and we have some good young players here now.

“It took a little while to get here since I took over the program [in 2007]. It does take time to build a program, but I feel good about the mindset at Hoover.”

The Tornadoes finished at 8-9, while Canyon improved to 10-9 and will meet top-seeded Palm Desert in a first-round road match at 3 p.m. today.

Hoover won five singles sets, but managed just two doubles victories.

Hoover received two wins apiece in singles from Oleg Simonyan (6-1, 6-1) and Emile Ohanyan (6-2, 6-4). Vardan Adzhinyan picked up a 6-2 victory for the Tornadoes.

Ron Glandian teamed with Sage Barry to earn a 6-0 doubles win for Hoover, which received a 6-4 victory from Yeprem Chavdarian and Yervand Azatian.

“We did better in singles, which is the story of our season,” said Hoppe, whose team trailed, 5-1, after the first round and 9-3 following the conclusion of the second round. “Oleg played tough against their No. 1 player and it’s a great experience for him [going into the CIF Individuals Tournament].

“With Emile, he was down in one of his sets and came back to win at 6-4. He loves to compete and he’s now got some playoff experience.

“Canyon’s doubles teams were just very consistent and we just couldn’t get those two more doubles wins.”

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