Teams will likely have to battle for postseason spots

The last time the Burroughs High girls’ tennis team qualified for the

postseason was in 1999.

Last season, the Indians placed fourth in the Foothill League and

weren’t close to extending their season.

In contrast, Burbank made it to the CIF Southern Section Division

III playoffs last season after finishing second in league behind

champion Valencia.

Despite the teams’ different results a year ago, both will likely

find themselves battling for postseason spots this season.

“I’m hoping that we can make the playoffs this season, maybe

getting the third spot in league,” Burroughs Coach Roy Bernhardt

said. “That’s what we are striving for this season.”

It looked as if Burbank was a shoo-in for one of the three

playoffs spots, led by Katy Nikolova, who was the All-Area Singles

Player of the Year as a freshman last season. However, Bulldog Coach

Paul McNiff said he got word Wednesday that Nikolova has transferred

to Palisades High.

“I didn’t see [Nikolova] all summer, and really nobody had heard

from her at all,” McNiff said. “She just wasn’t around. So, I really

wasn’t that surprised when I was told that she was transferring out.

“I had told my girls that because she hasn’t been around that we

shouldn’t expect her to be with the team.

“But even with [Nikolova], we still would have probably finished

behind Valencia. But without her, that means that we will probably be

battling for a playoff spot. Hart is probably comparable to us.”

Playing No. 1 singles for the Bulldogs, Nikolova went 47-10 and

finished third in the league tournament.

With the season set to begin next week, here is how the teams are

shaping up.

BURBANK

Along with their second-place league finish, the Bulldogs went

15-4 a year ago and advanced to the second round of the playoffs,

losing to No. 1-seeded Campbell Hall, 14-4.

Along with dealing with the departure of its top singles player,

Burbank also lost its No. 2 and No. 3 singles players, Lucy

Youchkovets and Natalie Rafaelian, to graduation.

McNiff paired Youchkovets and Rafaelian in the league tournament

and the duo won the doubles championship despite being seeded third.

Relying on a trio of seniors from last season’s squad, McNiff is

hoping a crop of players from the junior varsity team will help fill

the holes.

“It looks like all three of our singles players will be from last

year’s JV team,” McNiff said. “The good thing is they all had success

at that level last year. But it’s a little different when you move up

to varsity.

“Along with three seniors, I will have three sophomores on the

team.”

The sophomores are Anastasia Altounian, Mindy Ou and Michelle Han.

Also playing singles will be junior Melissa Medina.

At doubles, returning seniors Leslie Fule and Siripa

Chakavarnmongkol -- who played at No. 3 last season -- will likely

anchor the team.

“We have a few more players who can play doubles for us,” McNiff.

“We have some depth at doubles, but we don’t have a lot of

experience.”

The Bulldogs will get a chance to finally play on campus for the

first time in six years Thursday when they host Flintridge Prep at

3:15 p.m. The last time Burbank played at its own facility was 1999,

before reconstruction began on the school.

BURROUGHS

The Indians will be looking to improve on their 2004 campaign in

which they went 5-11.

“We have some pretty good players back from last year’s team, so

that’s good,” Bernhardt said.

“And we got a surprise [Wednesday] when a few players came out for

the team for the first time. I think the players are from Europe.”

Burnhardt admits his team is young, and normally that would bode

well for its future in the league. However, this will be Burroughs

and Burbank’s last season in the Foothill League before moving to the

Pacific League for the 2006-07 season.

“We are young, but the rest of the good teams in league are young

as well,” Bernhardt said.

The Indian singles should be led by sophomore Melanie Irinco, who

comes from a talented tennis family, as her older sister, Christina,

helped the Indians win league titles in the 1990s and her other

sister, Veronica, was a standout at Burbank.

Juniors Stephanie Arroyaue and Sara Aguilar should see time at

singles.

The doubles teams should be occupied by sophomore Nicole

Carothers, juniors Melody Chung and Hasmik Mktchyan and seniors Arpi

Dergalestian and Vanessa Carrizosa.

“The last time we made the playoffs in 1999, we split with

Burbank,” Bernhardt said. “Last year we lost to them both times,

18-0.

“Hopefully, we can do better than that this season.”