~Tennis ~

Falcons Smash Flintridge Prep

The Falcons go perfect in their doubles column in a dominating performance.

After a disappointing performance against Pasadena, Falcons varsity tennis came on strong against Flintridge Prep on Tuesday taking home their second win of the season 14-4.

Coming into the match, the Falcons were reeling from a narrow 11-7 loss to the Glendale Nitros on Friday. Flintridge had split their last two games, losing to Temple City 18-0 but defeating Maranatha High School, 11-7.

Last time on the court, the Falcons had only notched five wins in their doubles column. Some of this may be attributed to the absence of many of the players.

“I had my full line up, which helps,” said Coach Sarah Wiggins of Tuesday’s victory. “I thought they did great. They took care of things, played a solid game.”

First up was the team of James Ho/Greg Manoucheri who set the tone. They beat Daniel Nieto/Alex Khalsa, 6-2. Their continued strongly, beating Lawrence Yu/Sean Kilmer, their third team, 6-0.

Due to their fast start, Coach Wiggins felt she could let the substitute players get some time on the court. She substituted Manoucheri with Allen Chang.

However it didn’t make the opposition feel any better as the Ho/Chang duo won their last match for the first team. They beat Micheal Cassutt/Reilly Dalleska, 6-3.

Justin Chong/Daniel Cha continued what their teammates started – extending the wins.

They beat Cassutt/Dalleska, the second team, 6-2, and punished the third team of Yu/Kilmer, 6-0.

Wiggins again let another substitute player have some time. She replaced Justin Chung with Mheir-Krikorian. He didn’t make her regret her decision as the Cha/Krikorian team beat Nieto/Khalsa, 6-3.

While both teams were enjoying victories, Patrick Meserkhani/Tim Chong felt they could do a lot better.

They lost just one game in their three matches, beating Nieto/Khalsa, Casutt/Dalleska and Yu/Kilmer 6-0, 6-1 and 6-0 respectively.

The perfect record put the Falcons in a commanding lead and they didn’t look back.

While they couldn’t replicate their perfect effort in singles, they did come up on top.

Albert Chtchyan, playing the No. 1 slot, had a perfect record. He handled their No. 1, Teddy Willard, easily beating him 6-2. He then conquered Koby Hayashi, their No. 3, 6-0.

His toughest match was against William Dixon, their No. 2. Down a break, he battled back to force a tie-breaker which he won, 7-6.

Aren Abrahamian, playing for the second spot, couldn’t match Chtchyan’s performance. He lost his first two matches 6-2, 6-3 before getting back on track winning his last match, 6-2 opposite Hayashi.

Despite Chtchyan’s performance, it was Doil Kim who stole the spotlight.

He was up 4-1 in his match versus Hayashi when he suffered a blister in his left hand. Hayashi tried to capitalize on the injury, but fortunately Kim stayed mentally strong to win the match – that lasted an hour – 7-5.

Wiggins rested him after his grueling match. He filled Young Peak and Simon Park for his next two matches, which they lost.

Overall, she was happy with the way the Falcons played.

“It’s a nice performance,” said Wiggins.