Dolphins’ Duo Falls in Finals

It’s no surprise that Palisades High had two doubles teams playing on the final day of the City Individual tournament. After all, Dolphin duos have won more City titles than any other school, including a record seven in a row from 1993-99. Jeremy Shore and Matt Goodman were trying to add to Palisades’ storied history on Monday, but they lost in the finals at Balboa Sports Center in Encino. Seeded third in the 56-team draw, Shore and Goodman couldn’t solve the hard serving and opportunistic poaching of Carson’s top-seeded Andrew Sarawasi and Sammy Macias, who won, 6-2, 6-4, to claim the program’s first doubles crown since brothers Roel and Rene DeVera won in 1991. Shore was broken to open the match but Palisades’ pair broke back to pull even at 2-2. Carson broke Shore again for a 3-2 lead and broke Goodman to go up 5-2, then Sarawasi held serve to win the first set. In the second set, Shore double faulted to give Carson a 3-2 lead and the Colts’ tandem held serve from there. One court over, Palisades had another doubles team playing for third place, fourth-seeded Kyung Choi and Ren Nielsen. However, after a strong start they were defeated by second-seeded Aaron Teitelbaum and Alex Freeman of Taft, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. The Toreadors’ tandem lost to Shore and Goodman in last week’s semifinals. As runner-ups, Shore and Goodman earned first-team All-City honors while Choi and Nielsen made the second-team by virtue of finishing fourth. Palisades last won the section doubles title in 1999 with Peter Shirley and Blake Baumgarten.