GCC’s top team toppled
Sevana Zargarian and Samantha Sismundo continued to improve in the semifinal round of the Southern California Regional Saturday.
It didn’t yield the result the Glendale Community College women’s tennis team’s top doubles squad wanted, though, as they fell to Ventura’s Jessica Worring and Sonia Landeros in a hard-fought match, 6-3, 7-5.
“It would have been nice to make finals, but they’ve been playing great,” Glendale Coach Bob Donaghy said. “Everyone out here is tough at this point. They played great yesterday and played even better today, I would say.
“I don’t think we’ve left anything on the table. They are happy with the effort, but they wished they could have won [today].”
The season is far from over for Zargarian and Sismundo, who also played together at Glendale High, as the duo’s round-of-16 victory over host College of the Desert’s Haley Briggs and Leticia Vieira qualified it for the state tournament, which begins Wednesday at San Diego’s Balboa Tennis Club.
Zargarian and Sismundo’s quarterfinal win over Palomar’s Leizl Galleisky and Pam Cademas Friday advanced them to Saturday’s semifinal round, which is when three straight weekends of tournament tennis began to take its toll on the two sophomores.
“Everybody is tired, especially out here with the heat,” Donaghy said. “It is only 92 out here, but they are playing tennis from dawn to about 3:30 p.m. One of them went to sleep at 8:30 p.m. last night, so they’re pretty tired.”
Donaghy will give Zargarian and Sismundo Monday and Tuesday off in hopes of getting them rested up for state.
“We planned in the summer on winning Ojai [Valley Tennis Tournament] and state,” Donaghy said. “We still have a chance for state and we came pretty close to getting in the finals at Ojai.”
Donaghy hopes the duo draws out the season as long as possible.
“They’ve set an example for the rest of the team,” Donaghy said. “I am going to miss them and the rest of the sophomores when they graduate because, not only are they great players, but leaders, as well.”