The Burbank High boys’ tennis came very close to continuing on in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs Thursday.
Facing visiting Windward School, the Bulldogs appeared to be on their way to a tie-breaker victory. But Windward pulled off a surprise in the final set of the match and ran away with a 10-8 victory.
Burbank had won the first eight singles sets and Windward swept the doubles competition.
The Bulldogs did however play some tough sets in doubles, enough to win 17 games, which would have translated to points if the match would gone to a tie-breaker. Windward scored just 12 points in its first eight singles sets.
The final set featured Windward No. 1 player Oliver Grynberg against Burbank No. 3 Hakop Kerimyan.
Grynberg, who had lost earlier to Burbank’s Adam Ridaoui and Abasi Abukusumo, was able to hold of Kerimyan 6-1 to clinch the victory.
“I learned that right before the match, which was nerve-wracking,” Grynberg said. “It was really having confidence in myself. I knew I could do it.”
Burbank No. 1 player Ridaoui, who is a sophomore, swept his sets, going 6-4 over Grynberg, 6-0 over substitute Elijah Green and 6-0 over Matt Tenzer.
Abukusumo, who is a senior, went 6-4 over Grynberg, 6-1 over Campbell Scotch and 6-4 over Tenzer.
Kerimyan defeated Scotch 6-1 and Tenzer 6-4.
Burbank struggled in doubles, failing to win a set.
The No. 1 team of freshman Vamsi Chintha and senior Alexander Georgian fell 6-0 to Windward’s No. 1 team of Capp Gordon and Derek Cayton. They fell 6-1 to Windward’s No. 2 team of Connor James and Noah Slatkin and 6-3 to Windward’s No. 3 team of Eli Ludden and Zubin Showrie.
Burbank’s No. 2 team of freshman Adonis Basco and junior Yash Desai lost 3-6, 2-6, 4-6.
Burbank’s No. 3 team of juniors Chris Krikorian and Mark Lin went 1-6, 3-6, 4-6.
“It was a tough one, but I was proud of how we played,” Abukusumo said of his team.
