When he’s not playing for the Palisades High boys tennis team this spring, Jake Sands is tearing up the junior tennis circuit.
Photo: Steve Galluzzo
On Saturday, the Dolphins’ sophomore partnered with Brandon Nakashima of San Diego to win the boys’ 16s doubles championship at the USTA International Spring Championships in Carson. Seeded No. 6, they upset the second-seeded Bradenton, Florida duo of Adam Neff and Tyler Zink, 4-6, 6-4, 10-7 in the finals after a 6-1, 6-4 victory over top-seeded William Grant and Axel Nefve in the semifinals.
Sands also reached the quarterfinals in singles, losing to Nefve, 6-4, 6-3, after straight sets wins against Niroop Vallabhaneni and Jaycer Lyeons.
Earlier this week, in the first round of the Easter Bowl in Indian Wells, Sands and Nakashima upset seventh-seeded Jenson Brooksby and Joshua Xu, 8-1, then beat Nathan Han and Neff 8-2 in the round of 16.
Seeded 12th in singles, Sands won his first-round match versus Adam Guo from the Pacific Northwest, 6-1, 6-1.
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