Pali High Tennis Falls to Mira Costa

Taking down a Southern Section powerhouse like Mira Costa would’ve been hard enough at full strength, but the Palisades High girls tennis team was missing nine players because of injury, several of them starters, and its lack of depth showed in Wednesday’s 15-3 loss to the Mustangs in Manhattan Beach.

Senior Diana Silvers won her last set 6-1 at No. 2 singles, juniors Madeline Prins and Lizzie Belokonnyi won their last set 6-2 at No. 1 doubles and junior Morgan Swan and sophomore Ally Williams won their last set 6-0 at No. 2 doubles. Prins and Belokonnyi took the defeat as a valuable learning experience.

“We had an off day, but we learned a lot about posititivity – we were very negative the first two matches and it showed and as soon as we changed that, things shifted completely,”  Prins said. “We talked about how tennis is about learning how to play even when you’re not having a good day, so we all got a lot out of this.”

“In the beginning we tried to do things that were out of our comfort zone and that’s why we weren’t doing so well, then we switched later into trying to just win and things got progressively better by the end,” Belokonnyi added. “A good percent of it was mental.”

Under the round robin scoring used in the Southern Section, the Mustangs (7-0) won the first rotation 6-0 to take command. They had previously beaten Long Beach Poly, Fountain Valley, Marlborough, Beverly Hills, Los Alamitos and Palos Verdes, while the Dolphins had only a practice match against Marymount (which they won 10-8) and a Western League rout of LACES to prepare for their toughest test of the season.

“This is the deepest I’ve seen them and they might’ve beaten us even if we were at full strength,” Palisades head coach Sean Passan said. “I don’t care about having an undefeated season and I’m not just saying that because we lost. The whole point of sitting for an hour in traffic on the way here and probably another hour on the way home is so we learn. I can’t learn from the teams in our league. When the girls lose, I learn more. I want to know how they play when they’re stressed or when they’re angry. This helps me solidify my lineup because a pairing I thought would work may not. That’s why you saw a lot of switching at third doubles.”

Captain Izzy Guterson and fellow senior Jesse Zand, who just rejoined the team, overcame a 4-1 deficit before falling 6-4 in the last set at No. 3 doubles.

“This doesn’t count for anything and it’s giving Passan and all of us an idea what positions we can handle, how we do under pressure and giving us a taste for the JV girls and what partners they should have,” Guterson said.

On Monday, the Dolphins returned to league play with a 6-1 win at Venice. Freshman Caroline Vincent couldn’t play due to injury but gave moral support to her teammates. “I’m there for them in spirit,” she said. “I want to say ‘Hi’ to all the Palisades.”

Abby Schleichkorn played No. 1 singles as she did against LACES and won by the same 8-3 score. Zand had the stomach flu and couldn’t finish her match at No. 2, Taylor Barfield won 8-6 at at No. 3 and Katie Scholl won a tiebreaker at No. 4 singles.

Swan and Williams won 8-0 at No. 1 doubles, Lauren Neman and Alex Hart won 8-0 at No. 2 and Guterson paired with Sarah Silvers to win 8-1 at No. 3.