CV girls’ tennis top rival Hoover to open Pacific League

NORTHWEST GLENDALE — There haven’t been too many scares for the Crescenta Valley High girls’ tennis team.

Yet, on Tuesday afternoon during a Pacific League-opening match against host Hoover, the Falcons encountered one when standout doubles player Jackie Dilanchyan rolled her right ankle on a leaf while looking to return a shot midway through the second round.

Dilanchyan shook off the pain initially before sitting on a bench with an ice pack applied to her tender ankle.

“It’s a concern and we have to be careful about practice [Wednesday],” said first-year Crescenta Valley Coach Sam Hyun, whose team recorded a 13-5 victory. “We will try to get her ready for Thursday’s match against Arcadia.”

Crescenta Valley improved to 3-0, including a pair of convincing nonleague victories against La Salle and Canyon Country Canyon.

The Falcons received a pair of singles victories from Alexa Gregorian (6-4, 6-3), Selin Auvazian (6-0, 6-1) and Sarah Yaghoubi (6-1, 7-5) to drop the Tornadoes to 0-2, 0-1.

Crescenta Valley held a 6-0 lead through the first round, though Hyun, who took over the program from Sarah Wiggins, said the Falcons initially appeared sluggish.

“Maybe we were because of the long holiday weekend,” Hyun said. “We feel good about the win, though.”

Hoover, which opened with a nonleague defeat against West Ranch, got positive results from No. 2 singles player Petra Beglarian and the No. 1 doubles team of Diana Karapetyan and Kiso Adzhemyan.

Beglarian won a pair of sets (6-4, 6-3). Karapetyan and Adzhemyan won, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

“I think Petra learned a lot,” Hoover Coach Julie Hoppe said. “In the first set, she got up and then let her opponent back in it. I think that taught her a lesson, and it’s just about being able to close it out.

“We have a very small squad, only nine players. Every one of them but three are brand new to the varsity level. We are just working on trying to get better and get experience during the first half of league so we can be in a better position for the second half and have a shot at fourth place in league and maybe the playoffs.”

The Falcons got two doubles victories from Dilanchyan and Viktoriya Shumakova (6-1, 6-0) and Karin Saran and Ashley An (6-0, 6-2). Also posting a doubles victory for the Falcons were Isabel Martos-Repath and Melanie Voskanian (6-0) and Annie Park and Elizabeth Lim (6-0).

Hoover’s Sara Kim notched a 7-6(7-3) singles win.