In the initial meeting last month between the Burbank High girls’ tennis team and Burroughs, it ended up in a tie and games were needed in order to decide the winner.
That day the Bulldogs captured the match and did again on Tuesday, 13-5, in a Pacific League encounter.
Burbank, which placed fourth in league and will advance to the CIF Southern Section playoffs, took eight of nine singles points with No. 1 Kristina Kirakosyan, a junior, blitzing through 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 over No. 1 Sandy LeMay, a senior, No. 2 Alice Weber, a junior, and No. 3 Isabella Harris-Bermudez, a freshman.
At No. 2 for the host Bulldogs, senior Johana Faraj went 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 over LeMay, Weber and junior Ayana Coha, who subbed for Harris-Bermudez.
“I was really happy with my scores because I started off losing, but I came back,” Faraj said of her day’s work.
With the first match close against Burroughs, Faraj felt the second would also be tight and it was for a time.
“I thought it was going to be close, but Siya, the first time, she didn’t get that many [points], but now she was really fighting,” Faraj said.
Burbank’s No. 3 singles player, sophomore Siya Joshi defeated LeMay 6-3 and Harris-Bermudez 6-2, but fell to Weber 1-6.
Burbank (7-5-1 and 6-5-1 in league) didn’t fare as well in doubles action, but still managed to win five of the eight points.
Burbank’s No. 1 duo of sophomore Jinette Faraj and freshman Ellie Sumera went 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 against Burroughs’ No. 1 tandem of senior Phuong Nguyen and junior Irish Demesa, the No. 2 duo of senior Savannah Dorris and junior Suzy Kim and the No. 3 pair of senior Pranathi Darbhala and junior Vicky Shagriyan.
The Bulldogs’ No. 2 doubles team of freshman Anneke Pullen and freshman Lilyan Hawrylo went 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 as they lost to Nguyen and Demesa, but defeated Dorris and Kim and junior Mikayla Hayes and freshman Lauren Pieri, who were subbing for Darbhala and Shagriyan.
Nguyen and Demesa drilled senior Daisy Kim and senior substitute Esther Chung who filled in for junior Natalie Khachikian 6-4, while Dorris and Kim prevailed 7-5 over Kim and Khachikian and Darbhala and Shagriyan won 6-4 versus Kim and Khachikian.
The Indians (4-8-1 and 3-7-1 in league) didn’t make the postseason, but still have one more league match at home against Hoover on Thursday.
“I was hoping to win today,” Burroughs assistant coach Russell Bernhardt said. “Our first match against Burbank was very close. We wanted to get in a win against our crosstown rival.”
Bernhardt went on: “They are a great bunch of girls and they get along really well and that’s wonderful. They support each other and cheer each other on.”
