By Alan der OHANNESSIAN
It was a sad, if not unexpected, loss suffered by CV Falcons tennis when they fell to the Arcadia Apaches 15-3 on April 26 in the final game of the season.
“They’re the number one team in the league,” said Coach Sarah Wiggins.
The Falcons failed to win any matches in the singles column.
Coming onto the court, Arcadia was the clear favorite as they had beaten the Falcons 12-6 in their previous encounter. They also were holding an 11-0 league record having beaten Burbank 15-3 in their last meeting.
The Falcons were still reeling from a big loss to Burroughs, dropping to 3-8.
Falcon Justin Chung, who was substituting for Albert Chtchyan, won a total of just five games in his three matches.
Apache Travis Tu took care of Chung in a 6-0 dominating performance, followed by Andrew You, their No. 2 player. You took control of the match from the beginning, giving Chung a hard time with his powerful baseline game, beating him 6-1.
Though badly beaten in his first two matches, Chung managed a strong showing in the last contest, but still lost 6-4 to Albert Chen.
Fellow Falcon Aren Abrahmian followed Chung’s lead, winning just five games. He won only two in his first two matches, then lost his final match against Chen 6-4.
Doil Kim, CV’s No. 3 player, managed to win only two games in his three matches.
The singles performance was a prelude of things to come with the Falcons failing to turn things around in doubles, winning just three matches.
The duo of Tim Chong/Patrick Meserkhani, the longstanding No. 1 team, managed to win all of their three matches, including a tough tie break (7-6) match against Arcadia’s substitutes, Dustin Lieu/Eric Gao.
“They understand and don’t put pressure on each other,” Wiggins said of Chong and Meserkhani.
The Falcons doubles teams had a fighting spirit compared to the singles players. Greg Manoucheri/James Ho lost their first match 7-6 in a tie break against Dhrov-Rastogi/Anthony Hou. However, they lost the other matches against Dustin Lieu/Eric Gao and Donovan Lieu/Guillaume Lam, 6-2 and 6-3 respectively.
Finally, Allen Chang/Young Peak, usual substitutes, managed to win four games in their two contests against Lieu/Gao and Lieu/Lam.
Because the outcome seemed obvious, Coach Wiggins allowed Daniel Hong, another substitute, to team up with Peak for the third match. They fought but ultimately lost 6-4 to Rostagi/Hou.
Having been subjected to numerous lineup changes all season long, Coach Wiggins has a firm idea of what she wants from her team next season.
“Let other things change,” Wiggins said. “Focus on what needs to get done.”