Hamlet Nalbandyan
NORTHWEST GLENDALE -- It was questionable as to what had a worse day
Tuesday: Flintridge Prep No. 1 singles player Tom McCullough's tennis
racket or McCullough himself.
The Rebel sophomore was undefeated coming into the nonleague boys'
tennis match against Hoover High at Fremont Tennis Center, but that
didn't last too long, and his racket paid the price.
Humbled by Hoover's Sam Tadevosian and Sergey Vagramian, McCullough
took out his frustrations on his racket, slamming it to the ground
repeatedly in the 17-1 loss against the Tornadoes.
Even though he was able to regroup against Hoover's No. 3 singles
player, Eddie Choi, barely winning, 7-5, for the lone Rebel set victory,
it was clear that McCullough (16-2 this season) had met his match.
Tadevosian, ranked No. 19 in the USTA Southern California 16-and-under
rankings, beat McCullough -- ranked 47th in the same age group -- 6-2,
and Vagramian, ranked 25th in the 16-and-under bracket, triumphed, 6-1.
"This was a learning experience for our team, and a good one,
especially for Tom," Flintridge Prep co-Coach Andres Rojas said. "Now he
knows there's somebody better than him. We know that Hoover was highly
talked about, so we saw this coming. But we're still a bit shocked as to
how good they were."
Hoover improved to 5-0 on the season, and the quick disposal of the
Rebels (2-4) was nothing new.
Lynn Santamaria's group has been running roughshod over its opponents,
often times without its best player, Dylan Kim, who again didn't play
against the Rebels because of a conflict in his practice schedule.
So without Kim, Tadevosian played No. 1 singles, improving to 13-0 on
the year. The two games he lost to McCullough were the first two of his
high school career.
"I hadn't lost any games this year, and when I lost those, I got
really mad," said Tadevosian of his match against McCullough, whom he had
beaten three times prior in USTA tournament matches.
Added McCullough of his set against Tadevosian: "My strings were
strung way too loose, and when they're loose like that, hitting the ball
hard is impossible, because you can't control the ball."
Vagramian, a sophomore, is now 12-0 on the year. He beat Flintridge
Prep's No. 2 singles player, Alex Chao, 6-0, before being substituted by
Jack Karapetian in the final set.
Karapetian, a freshman who is ranked 49th in the 14-and-under group,
won 6-0 against Ely Magel.
In addition to Kim -- ranked 35th in the 18-and-under bracket,
Tadevosian, Vagramian and Karapetian, Hoover has two more ranked
tournament players.
Hagop Tadevosian, a sophomore who played No. 2 doubles, is 46th in the
16-and-under rankings, and Choi, a junior, is 213th in the 18-and-under
group.
BOX SCORE
Hoover 17, Flintridge Prep 1.
SINGLES -- S. Tadevosian (H) d. McCullough, 6-2, Chao, 6-0, Magel,
6-0; Vagramian (H) won, 6-1, 6-0; Karapetian (H) won, 6-0; Choi (H) lost,
7-5, won, 6-2, 6-0.
DOUBLES -- Weber/E. Kim d. Kang/Noritake, 6-1, d. Hardt/Newman, 6-3,
d. Chen/B. Kim, 6-1; H. Tadevosian/Abedian (H) won, 6-0, 6-1; Ritzel/Lee
(H) won, 7-5; J. Kim/Kassabian (H) won, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.
