Glendale Community College women’s tennis send four onto Southern California Regionals

While no one from the Glendale Community College women’s tennis team was able to keep hope of a Western State Conference Tournament title alive Saturday, each managed to qualify for the Southern California Regionals.

Vaquero singles players Sofia Tavitian and Alexandra Amor punched their ticket by reaching the second day of the conference tournament at Ventura College, while Sydney Farzadkish and Ashley Sumudio, a newly formed GCC doubles team, kept their seasons alive with a victory Saturday.

Tavitian, who was seeded fourth, knocked off fifth-seeded Carmel Peterson of Santa Monica College in convincing fashion, 6-1, 6-0, to start the day.

“She played great and definitely grinded it out and was patient,” Glendale assistant coach Deo Sy said. “She was just hitting her spots and keeping the ball in play. It seemed like her strategy going into it was making her opponent miss.”

The sophomore’s run to a title ended just as quickly, as she was defeated by Santa Barbara College’s Bruna Maghales — the top seed — in the semifinals, 6-0, 6-1.

“This was great preparation for [Ojai Invitational],” said Sy, as Regionals, State and Ojai are being combined this year, running April 25-28. “What better way to end the conference tournament then playing against the No. 1 seed? At least she can gauge herself and work on some of her strategies and hopefully, if and when she gets a second chance, she’ll be able to make an adjustment.”

Seventh-seeded Amor took four games from No. 3 Nancy Ramirez of Bakersfield College before falling in the round of 16 by a score of 6-1, 6-3.

It took three hours for Sumudio and Farzadkish to defeat Santa Barbara’s Laura Wyatt and Precious Ncube, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, in a backdraw match to determine ninth place.

“In my opinion, our girls were better but they sank to their level,” Sy said.

Sumudio and Farzadkish, who were paired together for the first time Friday after an injury to Nerrissa Fnu, dropped the first set and found themselves down in the second, 5-3.

The Vaqueros duo rallied back for the 7-5 win but lost the momentum and trailed, 5-3, again in the final set.

Once again, Sumudio and Farzadkish rallied to win the next four points to take the set and match.

“They definitely stuck in there,” Sy said. “They could have easily said forget it, but they changed things around and were able to compose themselves and win the match.”