Crescenta Valley, Glendale tennis have wild-card playoff matches
The Crescenta Valley High girls’ tennis team will open the playoffs against a familiar opponent — the same team it faced in its season opener.
Only the Falcons will now look for a better result.
Crescenta Valley and Glendale learned who they will face after the CIF Southern Section office unveiled its playoff pairings Monday.
Crescenta Valley will meet West Ranch and Glendale will travel to Foothill to participate in Division II wild-card matches at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
The Falcons (9-5, 8-4 in the Pacific League for third place) will look to bounce back from an 11-7 defeat against visiting West Ranch on Sept. 6.
Crescenta Valley Coach Sam Hyun said the Falcons are a vastly different team now.
“I think we’ve been playing pretty well, especially over the last couple of weeks,” said Hyun, who recently saw Alexa Gregorian and Jackie Dilanchyan capture the Pacific League doubles championship. “We know a little about West Ranch, so that will help.
“We have gotten better in doubles throughout the season. We are going to need to sweep in doubles to have our best chance at beating them. We know that West Ranch has some good singles players.”
West Ranch is 9-6 and finished 6-4 for third in the Foothill League.
The winner will meet host Beverly Hills in a first-round match at 2 p.m. Wednesday. Beverly Hills is 9-2 and went 6-0 to win the Ocean League crown.
Glendale (7-8) went 6-4 to take fourth in the Pacific League. The Nitros will make the trek to Orange County against Foothill, which is 14-5 and went 8-4 to place third in the Century League.
With a victory, Glendale would make another trip to Orange County to face Yorba Linda (17-3, 11-1) in a first-round match Wednesday. Yorba Linda shared the Empire League title with Placentia Valencia.
“All we can do is go down there and give it our best shot,” Davidson said. “We know we’ll need to be consistent in both singles and doubles to have a chance.
“I’m sure Foothill will be a pretty good team. At this point, we’ve set out what we wanted to do before the season began and that’s make the playoffs. Everything from here on in is a bonus.”
