Edgar Melik-Stepanyan
Editor's note: The top 10 high school games and matches for the
2002-03 year was voted on by the News-Press sports department.
10 Crescenta Valley vs. Granada Hills girls' tennis, nonleague
match, Sept. 27, 2002: The Falcons' regular-season winning streak
had to end some time. And it did at 48 on a hot afternoon that turned
into a gloomy evening for host CV.
With a 78-64 victory on games -- the prominent programs were tied
on sets at 8 -- Granada Hills handed the Falcons their first
regular-season loss in three years. The Highlanders continued a
streak of their own, as they remained unbeaten in regular-season
matches dating back to 1995.
Each team won four sets in singles and doubles competition, but
the difference was that Granada Hills won three 6-0 sets and won at
least one game in every set.
The Highlanders eventually won the L.A. City Section championship,
and CV easily won the Pacific League title before reaching the CIF
Southern Section Division II quarterfinals.
9 Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy vs. L.A. Marymount volleyball,
CIF Southern Section Division IVAA final, Nov. 22, 2002: The Tologs
traveled to Cerritos College, and more than 90 minutes after the
teams slapped hands before the start of the match, Flintridge Sacred
Heart earned some long-overdue respect.
Nancy Tinkham's team proved it had the talent, defense, offense
and everything else that is needed to contend with one of the elite
programs in the state.
But like they had in their previous seven meetings against the
Tologs, the Sailors sent Flintridge Sacred Heart home on the wrong
end of the stick. Top-seeded Marymount defeated the Tologs, 15-11,
10-15, 15-5, 15-13, dropping Tinkham to 2-1 in her eight-year career
in CIF title matches.
Flintridge Sacred Heart held leads in the first and fourth games,
but it couldn't put Marymount -- which was ranked No. 5 in the state
by Cal-Hi Sports at the time -- away. The Sailors' awesome depth
overshadowed the valiant efforts of Tolog seniors Jillian Davis (10
kills and 14 digs) and Kacey Knauf (27 assists and 18 digs).
8 Glendale vs. Crescenta Valley girls' water polo, Pacific League
final, Feb. 13, 2003: The Falcons had the mystique. They had the
confidence. And they had the charisma.
The Nitros could have cared less, though. Especially the Glendale
seniors, who were determined to knock CV from atop the Pacific League
ladder.
Glendale was at its best when it counted the most at Arcadia High,
