Sports
Close sets get away from Glendale in defeat
Tennis: Nitros boys can’t keep up with Arcadia in doubles, fall, 12-6, at home in league match.
By Gabriel Rizk
SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — In the two squads’ previous meeting during the first half of the Pacific League season, the Glendale High boys’ tennis team took Arcadia down to the wire before losing the match by four games in a tiebreaker.
In Tuesday’s rematch at Glendale, crunch time set in a whole lot earlier for the Nitros, as the Apaches jumped out to a sizable lead in the first round.
“We’re going to need for everything to go our way just to have a shot,” said Glendale Coach Bob Davidson with his team down four sets with eight to go.
On this day, that was just too much to hope for, as Arcadia held strong to win five of those next eight to take home a 12-6 victory and retain sole possession of second place in league.
“Fortunately we were able to win a lot of close sets today,” Arcadia Coach Jerry Dohling said. “Last time the close sets were balanced — we would win a couple, they would win a couple and everything would stay close.
“Basically, the match was very similar to last time, we just won more close sets than they did.”
After No. 1 doubles Mike Astorian and Nick Daka’s 6-1 win over Bo Win Tin and Tim Sae Koo, Glendale lost the next four doubles sets to open the match.
Each set was close midway through, before Arcadia (6-1 in Pacific League play) pulled away for a 6-4 win and three 6-3 wins.
“The first round, I think was the key to the match,” Davidson said. “Almost every set seemed like it was 3-3 and they closed them out. I’m thinking that we have a chance to go up 4-2 [in sets] and they close those sets out and all of a sudden we’re down 2-4.”
The Nitros managed to take four of nine singles sets, led by Suren Aydinyan’s 7-6 (7-4) win over Alan Han and 6-1 defeat of Hardy Lou.
Ashot Papikian notched a 6-2 win over Lou and Jeff Asano won the final set of the day, 6-0.
Still, it was a lack of success in doubles that doomed Glendale (7-5, 4-3 in league).
“We made some adjustments with our doubles teams which got the scores closer,” said Davidson, whose team’s only other doubles win came courtesy of Astorian and Daka, 6-3, over Aaron Kim and Jesse Li. “Our 2s and 3s played every set really close, but they didn’t win any.
“For us to win today, we needed to get probably five points in doubles and we only got two, so I think that was the real difference.”
In Tuesday’s rematch at Glendale, crunch time set in a whole lot earlier for the Nitros, as the Apaches jumped out to a sizable lead in the first round.
“We’re going to need for everything to go our way just to have a shot,” said Glendale Coach Bob Davidson with his team down four sets with eight to go.
On this day, that was just too much to hope for, as Arcadia held strong to win five of those next eight to take home a 12-6 victory and retain sole possession of second place in league.
“Fortunately we were able to win a lot of close sets today,” Arcadia Coach Jerry Dohling said. “Last time the close sets were balanced — we would win a couple, they would win a couple and everything would stay close.
“Basically, the match was very similar to last time, we just won more close sets than they did.”
After No. 1 doubles Mike Astorian and Nick Daka’s 6-1 win over Bo Win Tin and Tim Sae Koo, Glendale lost the next four doubles sets to open the match.
Each set was close midway through, before Arcadia (6-1 in Pacific League play) pulled away for a 6-4 win and three 6-3 wins.
“The first round, I think was the key to the match,” Davidson said. “Almost every set seemed like it was 3-3 and they closed them out. I’m thinking that we have a chance to go up 4-2 [in sets] and they close those sets out and all of a sudden we’re down 2-4.”
The Nitros managed to take four of nine singles sets, led by Suren Aydinyan’s 7-6 (7-4) win over Alan Han and 6-1 defeat of Hardy Lou.
Ashot Papikian notched a 6-2 win over Lou and Jeff Asano won the final set of the day, 6-0.
Still, it was a lack of success in doubles that doomed Glendale (7-5, 4-3 in league).
“We made some adjustments with our doubles teams which got the scores closer,” said Davidson, whose team’s only other doubles win came courtesy of Astorian and Daka, 6-3, over Aaron Kim and Jesse Li. “Our 2s and 3s played every set really close, but they didn’t win any.
“For us to win today, we needed to get probably five points in doubles and we only got two, so I think that was the real difference.”
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