Falcons fly past Arcadia again

ARCADIA — Crescenta Valley High’s girls’ tennis team didn’t exactly clinch the Pacific League title on Tuesday afternoon, but it certainly took a monumental step toward reclaiming its crown.

“We have to keep playing,” said Falcons Coach Tom Gossard, whose team now has five league matches left. “That being said, if we keep playing, things look like we’re OK.”

Things looked a little better than OK for the Falcons at Arcadia High, as a singles sweep by Sarah Ali and a doubles sweep by Anna Kim and Tiffany Man spearheaded Crescenta Valley’s 12-6 win against their archrivals.

“The girls played well today,” said Gossard, whose team grabbed six sets apiece in the singles and doubles brackets. “It was a team effort all over.”

With the victory, the Falcons (10-1, 7-0 in league) swept the season series against the three-time reigning league champions.

Owning wins against every other team in league — as does Arcadia (12-2, 6-2) — Crescenta Valley is most assuredly in the driver’s seat en route to its first league title since 2003.

“It’s great to know that we’re No. 1, but we still have to concentrate and not let up,” said Ali, who swept 6-1, 6-3, 6-1.

Her 6-3 win was an upset of sorts, coming against Arcadia standout Caitlyn Ward.

Crescenta Valley’s Erin LeVoir, like Ali a freshman, won two sets, 6-0, 6-3.

“Ninth-graders won five sets,” Gossard said, “that’s very big.”

Lindsay Walter also grabbed a singles win.

Kim and Man swept, 6-2, 6-1, 6-0, to lead the doubles charge.

The team of Steph Chung and Ani Ebrahimian took two sets, 7-5, 6-4, while the tandem of Carole Kim and Debbie Prasertsit grabbed a 6-4 set win.

After taking the first round of sets, 4-2, Crescenta Valley pulled away by winning six of the next seven sets. Ali’s third win clinched the match, making the score 10-3.

After the Falcons defeated the Apaches on Sept. 13 — a win that snapped Arcadia’s 33-match league winning streak — Crescenta Valley came into Tuesday with a renewed sense of confidence.

“It [gave] us more confidence,” Ali said. “They’re the ones that have to come up, we have an advantage.”

The first victory of the year came by an 11-5 margin, as the last two sets were not played. While the score wasn’t that much different, Gossard believes his team has progressed quite a bit.

“They’ve always been good tennis players,” he said. “Now they’re a good team.”

Riding an 11-match league winning streak and an overall 10-match winning streak, the Falcons face Hoover on Thursday. After that, matches against Burbank, Burroughs and particularly Glendale look to be the biggest hurdles standing between the Falcons and clinching the league title.