Over the last couple of seasons, the Burbank High girls’ tennis team has looked to inch closer to Arcadia and challenge for the Pacific League title.
While the Bulldogs have closed the gap slightly, it continues to be a work in progress.
That proved to be the case once again Tuesday after host Burbank suffered a 10-8 defeat against Arcadia in a league opener for each team.
Burbank (2-1) fared well in singles, winning seven sets. However, Arcadia (2-2) won eight doubles sets.
“We know what we need to do the next time we play Arcadia,” said Burbank coach Loi Phan, whose team took second in league last season. “Right now, we need to regroup and get going in doubles.
“I’m happy with the way we played in singles, but disappointed with how we did in doubles. We play them again [on Sept. 8 at Arcadia] and I like our chances if we get improvement in doubles.”
The Bulldogs received three wins from No. 1 singles player Sena Hammel. Hammel, a junior who captured the league’s singles title last season, won, 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.
Mira Hammel, a freshman No. 3 singles athlete and Sena’s younger sister, picked up three victories, 6-2, 6-2, 7-5. Bernadette Hovhanasyan posted a 7-6(7-4) win in singles for the Bulldogs.
Brianna Kobramasihi and Daphne Harbaugh had the lone win in doubles for Burbank, posting a 6-4 victory.
Arcadia got three victories each from Annika Chan and Sophia Verdida, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. The Apaches also picked up three wins from Emma Wong and Karen Luo, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.
Arcadia got two victories in doubles from Madelyn Khun and Srinidhi Saravanan, 6-2, 6-1. It also received one win each in singles from Anastasia Jorniak, 6-1, and Iris Chen, 6-1.
Burbank will next participate in a league road match Thursday at Hoover.
