Charles Rich
A horde of players had enough stamina to curl their fingers around
the chain-linked fence.
Exhaustion had accumulated from tightly gripping their racquets
and there were enough energetic shouts of encouragement in between
lengthy volleys.
Unfortunately, a streak had to be snapped between two of the more
prominent girls' tennis programs in the region.
Crescenta Valley High saw its 48-match regular-season winning
streak come to a halt Friday after it tied visiting Granada Hills,
8-8, in an intersectional match. Granada Hills (2-0) won on games,
78-64, and handed the Falcons (6-1) their first regular-season loss
in three years.
CV's Kristina Kim, normally a singles player, had been thrust into
a tight situation when doubles player Kelly MacDonald was suffering
from shin splints. Now teamed with Ashley Chang, Kim needed to help
win the match's final set. Kim and Chang valiantly fought off four
match points, but succumbed in a 6-4 defeat.
"I was kind of overwhelmed because I can't do what Kelly does,"
said Kim, a second-year varsity player. "I tried to play a singles
game and hit groundstrokes to keep them back.
"I'm glad I got my serves in and I counted the points on the last
game. I did what I could to try to push to a tie-breaker."
Granada Hills, which has appeared in four consecutive L.A. City
Section finals, won most of its matches by large margins. That
helped the Highlanders remain unbeaten in regular-season matches
since 1995.
"I don't think experience proved to be the biggest factor," said
Granada Hills Coach Ron Wood, who guided the Highlanders to the 1999
City title.
"We just won more games. I think CV and us are evenly matched.
One of our players said afterward that this will help us against
teams like Cleveland and Palisades."
CV No. 1 singles player Hana Im won both of her sets to remain
undefeated. The junior left-hander -- who is ranked No. 68 in the
Southern California Tennis Assn. girls' 16-and-under division --
improved to 4-0 this season against City Section-based squads,
including wins Friday against ranked players Canna Furuta and Yuka
Otaka.
CV Coach Tom Gossard said the Falcons -- playing their third match
in four days -- must remain focused with the main goal being to win a
fourth consecutive Pacific League title.
"We know what it will take to raise the bar," Gossard said.
"We competed with one of the best city teams and we had the match
on our racquets."
