Lim able to lift Crescenta Valley tennis past Glendale in league match
GLENDALE — Both the Crescenta Valley High and Glendale tennis teams were preparing for Thursday’s Pacific League match to come down to a possible tiebreaker headed into the second round.
Elizabeth Lim saved both sides from the extra work when she won both her sets by 6-1 scores after coming in as a second-round substitute for the Falcons, who picked up the 10-8 road win.
“Usually, I don’t really like playing because I get so scared, especially because they were saying it depended on me,” Lim said. “I played really carefully and ended up hitting well.”
Lim’s final victory — a 6-1 win over Glendale’s Kellie Gong in the second-to-last set of the day — secured CV’s team win as well, keeping the match from going to a tiebreaker.
“We played the same exact way and were both same consistent,” Lim said. “Everything I would hit she would hit back and we would rally like that a long time. … [The games weren’t] like I won 40-love, it was more like deuce or 40-30.”
It’s CV’s first win of the season and keeps it in position to match its third-place finish in league in 2012, as the squad is 1-2, 1-1 in league. On the other side of the net, Glendale fell to 1-1 overall and in league after Tuesday’s 13-5 win over Hoover.
“Honestly, going into the match if someone told we were tied at 6 going into the last round I would have thought that was totally impossible,” said Glendale Coach Bob Davidson, whose team fell to the Falcons by scores of 15-3 and 17-1 last year.
“As a competitor, we’re disappointed we lost the match, but that’s the best I’ve seen us play in two years. It was the most competitive we’ve been, desire was better than it’s been and I thought we’ve fought harder than we have in two years. I thought that’s what made the match close.”
Lim wasn’t in the starting lineup to begin the day after she left her racquet at school, but by the end of the day she drew the highest praise from Crescenta Valley Coach Sam Hyun.
“She did a superb job today,” Hyun said. “She came out here, borrowed someone’s racket and played very well and beat [Glendale’s] No. 2, that was a good match.”
Crescenta Valley also received a big effort and sweeps from its top-two doubles teams for the second match in a row. Jackie Dilanchyan and Alexa Gregorian (6-4, 6-3, 6-2), who were expected to be the Falcons’ two top singles player coming into the season, and Angela Seo and Ashley An (6-1, 6-0, 6-0), swept their sets.
Dilanchyan and Gregorian, who are self-proclaimed best friends, asked Hyun to play together in doubles this season, in hopes of winning a CIF individual doubles championship. Before that, the duo had to help the Falcons get their first win.
“It was really important because it’s the beginning of the season so it kind of sets the mood for the rest,” Dilanchyan said of the victory. “We wanted to start out good and go into every league match thinking we’ve got it.”
Gregorian said she felt the tough practice games she and Dilanchyan play against Seo and An have both sharpened each other’s skills this season.
“They’re actually really good in doubles this year,” Gregorian said of the No. 2 CV team. “We’ve been training really hard with them and trying to get them to hit harder and everything. They’re doing it.”
Glendale received a sweep from No. 1 singles player Veronika Galstyan, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2. Gong won two sets, 6-3, 6-2, with Julie Darbinyan winning another in singles, 6-3.
The Nitros also stayed within striking distance on narrow victories from Mary Pailevanian and Rouzana Hakobyan, 7-6 (7-5), and Imani Story and Dani Fabian, 7-6 (7-2), in the second and third rounds, respectively.