Hoover High boys tennis doubles up Crescenta Valley
LA CRESCENTA — With Oleg Simonyan and Emile Ohanyan leading the charge in singles, the prospects appear bright for the Hoover High boys’ tennis team.
The duo will be counted on to keep the Tornadoes near the top of the Pacific League, while also trying to wear down their opponents each match.
Simonyan and Ohanyan followed suit Thursday afternoon, as they each swept their three sets to lead visiting Hoover to a 12-6 league win against Crescenta Valley.
Hoover improved to 2-2, 1-1 in league. Crescenta Valley fell to 1-1 overall and in league.
“We are expecting to go deeper in the playoffs,” said Simonyan, who won his sets, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4. “Everybody on the team has a role. We want to try to improve in doubles mentally.”
Hoover, which opened league with a 12-6 loss to powerful Burroughs, won seven singles sets to turn back Crescenta Valley. Ohanyan won, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3. The Tornadoes also received a 6-4 victory from Chris Ghadimi.
Hoover held a 5-1 lead following the first round and held an 8-4 lead entering the final round.
“They felt like they did perform well against Burroughs,” said Hoover Coach Julie Hoppe, who led the Tornadoes to an appearance in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division II playoffs last season. “They wanted to build off that by coming out strong against CV.
“Emile and Oleg helped carry us. We are looking for our No. 3 singles player to take some pressure off them. Our doubles did surprisingly well, because generally we struggle. We had to start off strong early because it’s tough to play catch-up. You feel the pressure and you start to get tight.”
Hoover’s No. 1 doubles team of Danny Kim and Arthur Arutyunyan swept, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. The Tornadoes also picked up doubles victories from Eddie No and Hrant Agakhanyan (7-6(7-3) and Evan Keum and Arman Arshakyan (6-3).
Crescenta Valley, which did not qualify for the playoffs last season, received a pair od doubles victories from Patrick Merserkhani and Gregory Manouchehri (6-1, 6-2) and Alex Jang and Youngjun Jang (6-3, 6-4).
Crescenta Valley first-year Coach Sam Hyun said the Falcons, who began league play Tuesday with a 10-8 win against Glendale, struggled during parts of the match.
“We only got four points in doubles and that’s a little disappointing,” Hyun said. “We are going to have to work some more in doubles.
“We might have to do some more experimenting in doubles. It was a little disappointing in singles, too.”
The Falcons got one singles win apiece from Albert Chtchyan (6-3) and Aren Abrahamian (6-2).
Crescenta Valley and Hoover will meet again at 3:30 p.m. April 4 at Hoover.
