Hoover’s Ohanyan must settle for fourth

PASADENA — Hoover High’s Emile Ohanyan had a daunting task facing him Thursday in a singles semifinal match of the Pacific League boys’ tennis tournament.

The fourth-seeded Ohanyan had to take on top-seeded Garrett Auproux of Burroughs. Not only was Auproux the defending league singles champion, but Ohanyan wasn’t able to win a game off the Indians junior during the regular season.

Although the Hoover sophomore was able to break his winless-games streak against Auproux, he wasn’t able to defeat the Burroughs standout, as Auproux rolled to a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

Although facing a formidable opponent in Auproux, Hoover Coach Julie Hoppe said Ohanyan went into the matchup with a positive approach.

“Because he didn’t get any games when he played Garrett before, we talked about winning more game and just being relaxed out there,” Hoppe said. “Emile is the kind of player who never gives up. On the way over we were talking about some things that he might be able to exploit. He is always thinking about strategy and he’s a really smart player.”

Ohanyan said although he was able to win two games off of Auproux, he wanted to have a better showing.

“I was hoping to win more,” he said. “I just wanted to come out and be aggressive. But [Auproux] was hitting everything back at me and he was getting to everything.”

Ohanyan had a chance to earn a spot as an alternate in the CIF Southern Section Division II Individual Tournament by winning the third-place match against Arcadia junior Albert Chen. However, Ohanyan couldn’t take advantage of a struggling Chen, who suffered from leg cramps. Chen was able to recover enough to earn an 8-4 win in the pro-set contest.

Auproux went on to win his second straight title, defeating teammate Calvin Fox, 6-1, 6-1, in the final.

The Burroughs team of Phillip Lam and Kevin Hoang captured the doubles title with a 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 10-7 victory against Arcadia’s Travis Tu and Andrew You.