From Staff Reports
Odds and ends from the local high school girls' tennis scene:
Tight until the end: Just how close was the Pasadena-Hoover girls'
tennis Pacific League match Tuesday?
After the Tornadoes took a 4-2 lead at the end of the first round
of sets, the Bulldogs rebounded in the second round to tie the match
at 6. But what was more surprising was that the games were even at
50.
The drama only continued from then.
After 14 sets, the teams were tied at sets (seven) and games (56).
Following 16 sets, it was even at eight sets and 62 games apiece.
Hoover -- which eventually won the match in the super tiebreaker,
11-7, -- actually had an opportunity to end the match in the third
round.
The Tornadoes' No. 2 doubles team of Adrienne Henson and Sarah Ma
led, 5-2, against Pasadena's tandem of JoAnn Valdes and Sonya Reese.
But Reese and Valdes rallied to make it, 5-4, before Henson and Ma
won, 6-4.
Several courts away, Hoover's Lousineh Arakelian lost to J.C.
Cruz, 6-4, as the teams ended in a tie at sets (nine) and games (72).
Arakelian redeemed herself in the tiebreaker, winning two of her
three sets as Hoover kept its playoff hopes alive.
Tolog shuffle: The snake-bit Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy
girls' tennis team had to reshuffle its player arrangement in the
singles and doubles competition during Tuesday's 10-8 Mission League
loss to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.
The Tologs competed without No. 2 singles player Jennifer Iwata,
who was involved in a car accident prior to the match.
One thing remained a constant: The consistent play from the No. 1
doubles team of Stacy Ramirez and Viviana Cordero.
The duo teamed up to sweep their three sets and lost just seven
games.
Flintridge Sacred Heart Coach Ron Zambrano might want to keep
Ramirez and Cordero together for the rest of the season, especially
when the Tologs meet Notre Dame again Nov. 7.
That match might have playoff implications. In order for the
Tologs to qualify for the postseason, they will need to finish no
worse than third in league.
