By Alan der OHANNESSIAN

The Falcons’ girls varsity tennis team crushed the South Pasadena Tigers 16-2 Wednesday, building on their two match winning streak.

The Falcons set the tone early with their number two player Karen Ataian beating South Pasadena’s number one Tiffany Chen 6-0.

Ataian lost one point in her first game, getting off to a 40-15 start on a wide return by Chen. She followed it with a wide serve as Chen returned another wide forehand for a 1-0 lead.

Chen struggled to hold her serve and Ataian exploited the situation to expand her lead. Down 0-30 as she hit two double faults in a row put pressure from the get go.

Undeterred, Chen recovered the two points as Ataian made two errors with her backhand, one into the net and another one sailed wide. However, Chen’s faulty serve caused her to error again as she hit a double fault for the third time in the game giving Ataian a break point at 30-40. Chen followed it by another to give Ataian the game for a 2-0 lead.

Chen had no luck going into the third as Ataian got off to a 40-0 lead on wide backhand returns and a forehand into the net. Chen hit another wide forehand to give Ataian a commanding 3-0 lead.

Much of the same was seen when it came to Chen’s serve, as she struggled again. She got down to 0-40 on a drop shot, a backhand into the net and another double fault. She recovered only one point, offering some hope, but it was short lived as she hit her second double fault in the game to give Ataian a 4-0 lead.

Ataian didn’t show any mercy as she held her serve and then broke her opponent again to win the match 6-0.

Other matches

The Falcons won all their singles matches, losing only six games total, but they couldn’t keep their perfect record as they lost two matches in the doubles.

The Falcons improved 5-1 overall including 2-1 in the Pacific League.

Tigers’ coach Ron Machuca was very disappointed with his team’s performance.

“We didn’t come out to compete,” he said dejectedly. “[It was] pathetic.”

Falcons Coach Sarah Wiggins was happy with her team as even her substitute players got the chance to play.

The Falcons play Burroughs High School today on their home court at 3:30 p.m.

  ALAN DER OHANNESSIAN