Tennis: Doubles Carry Arcadia to Quarterfinal Victory

The Arcadia boys tennis team had a scare early in its CIF-Southern Section Division 2 quarterfinal match Tuesday afternoon against visiting Camarillo.

The Apaches’ No. 1 doubles team of George Chiu and Hardy Lou, which has been so dominant the past two seasons, lost a set for just the second time this season in the first round of play.

But Chiu and Lou and their teammates fought back as the Apaches earned an 11-7 victory over the Scorpions to earn their fourth semifinals appearance since 2001.

“For the No. 2 team to go and beat them and then the No. 3 team to follow up, that just opened up the door,” Arcadia coach Jerry Dohling said of his doubles players that knocked off Camarillo’s top team of Brett Meier and Wes Byerly.

Arcadia (22-0) won eight of nine sets in doubles as Camarillo (16-4) took six of nine in singles.

The No. 2 team of twin brothers Arnav and Apporv Chaudhary won 6-2 over Meier and Byerly, 6-3 over the Camarillo No. 2 team of Sebastian Sweitlow and Shon Tamba and 6-0 over Camarillo’s No. 3 team of Eric Chin and David Li.

“We haven’t swept in a while,” Arnav Chaudhary said. “We’ve played off the last couple of weeks. I thought we played really well today.”

Arcadia’s No. 3 team of Dustin Lieu and Eric Gao was also very impressive, winning 6-3, 6-1, 6-4.

“We’re excited about being in the semifinals,” said Dohling, whose team last appeared in the semifinals in 2004. “Each time we got to the semis, we lost to the team that won the whole thing. Now we’re back in the semis and hopefully we can put something together.”

Chiu and Lou bounced back from their 6-4 loss to Meier and Byerly to win 6-3, 6-2 in their next two sets.

Arcadia didn’t fare as well in singles, as No. 1 singles player Travis Tu’s sweep earned the only points for Apaches.

“I thought they played hard,” Dohling said of his singles players. “Those players from Camarillo are good players. We battled hard. All this can do is help them prepare for next week.”

Tu won 6-0 over No. 1 Joey Sander. He won 6-3 over No. 2 Corey Karen and 6-3 over No. 3 Justin Anderson.

Arcadia No. 2 player Albert Chen lost 4-6, 2-6, 3-6.

Apache No. 3 player Andrew You went 1-6, 4-6, 2-6.

“We’re definitely expecting tough competition,” Arnav Chaudhary said of next Tuesday’s semifinals against either Santa Monica or Tustin Foothill. “I think our team is strong enough to make it to the finals this year. I think we should be fine if we play well.”