Erik Boal
PASADENA -- Even the long-awaited showdown between Crescenta Valley's
sophomore twin sisters Hana and Nara Im played second-fiddle to the
Pacific League girls' tennis doubles final Wednesday at Pasadena High.
Bidding to become the third straight CV doubles team to win the league
title as well as trying to maintain their perfect record, senior Ashley
Goodwin and sophomore Lauren Hawthorne showcased some of their best
tennis this season.
However, for the first time this year, Goodwin and Hawthorne's efforts
were not only matched, but slightly bettered by their opponents'.
With a crowd of 25-or-so hanging on the four players' every shot,
Arcadia's Kathleen Yee and Christiana Scolinos rallied for a 2-6, 6-4,
10-7 win, capturing the league title and ending Goodwin and Hawthorne's
set winning streak at 46.
The championship is the third straight for Yee -- who won the league
singles title the past two years -- and the first for Scolinos, who lost
to the Falcons' Kara MacDonald and Shira Seigle in last year's finals.
"I thought our game matched well with theirs," said Goodwin, who
nursed a strained right calf muscle throughout the second set and the
10-point tiebreaker in the third.
"We had them playing our game early on and Lauren and I both hit some
good shots, but [as the match progressed] it became harder to move. But
in the tiebreak, I think it could've gone either way."
Both teams, along with the Im sisters, qualified for the CIF
Individual Tournament on Nov. 17 at a site to be determined.
Despite not being on center court, the Im sisters didn't disappoint
the handful of spectators who took a timeout from watching the doubles
championship, as Hana -- the younger of the pair -- shook off her first
set loss of the season to defeat Nara, 6-1, 1-6, 10-1.
The Ims last competed against each other Aug. 4 in the finals of a
Southern California Tennis Assn. Junior Tournament at Whittier Narrows
Country Club, with Hana winning, 6-3, 7-5.
But the finals' matchup everybody anticipated almost didn't come to
fruition as Pasadena freshman Shelly Injejikian -- backed by a raucous
student cheering section -- pushed Nara Im to the limit before falling,
6-2, 3-6, 11-9.
Hana Im, in a complete contrast, cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 semifinal
victory over Glendale sophomore Georgia Beesemyer. Injejikian regrouped
to post an 8-1 pro-set win against Beesemyer in the third-place match.
CV's doubles pair of senior Kendra Kessen and junior Kelly MacDonald,
