Luck Is ‘13’

Pali High Tennis Beats Granada Hills to Continue City Championship Streak

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor         

The only thing that was “jinxed” for the Palisades High boys tennis team last Thursday in the City Section championship match at Balboa Sports Center in Encino was the Dolphins’ thwarted attempt to give head coach Bud Kling a Gatorade shower following a 20.5 to 9 victory over Granada Hills—the Dolphins’ 13th consecutive title and fourth straight in the Open Division, which debuted in 2018.

While several players tried to distract Kling, three others lifted an ice bucket to pour over his head but the longtime coach ducked out of the way at the last second to avoid being soaked. Other than that, his team executed the gameplan to perfection, winning six of seven sets in the critical first rotation to build a 7 to 1.5 lead in the first to 15 points round robin format.    

“Last year it wasn’t supposed to be that close and it was whereas this year we won more convincingly  than I expected—you just never know,” said Kling, who had celebrated his 75th birthday with a 21.5 to 8 semifinal victory over Taft two days earlier. “I’m glad No. 13 [in a row] wasn’t unlucky for us.”

Since top player Michael Kaplan had been sick the previous three days and didn’t play in the semifinals, Kling put him at No. 2 in the lineup and moved Jex Frankel to the No. 1 singles spot, meaning he had to face the Highlanders’ highly-ranked Aydan Fatu first and Frankel rallied from a service break down to prevail in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-5). He beat Granada Hills’ No. 2 player David Tinajero 6-0 and No. 3 player Dominic Ablakhad 6-1 before being subbed out for his fourth set with the title already clinched.      

“We were optimistic this year than last,” he said. “We were much looser this time around having played them last year and knowing who they have.”

Kaplan dropped only one game in his three sets  (he did not play Fatu) before being replaced by Finn Dunne in the last rotation.

“It didn’t affect anything since you play all of their guys anyway, but it was a piece of cake,” said Kaplan, a senior who indicated he will take a gap year to work on his game and play some national events. “It’s sad that I only got to play two full seasons at Pali, but at least we won City both times.”       

Freshman Neel Joshi won all three of his sets at No. 3 singles and senior Luke Shuman got a key 6-3 win against Granada Hills’ No. 4 player Dylan Brown as Palisades grabbed 10 of the possible 16 singles points.     

In doubles, the Dolphins’ top duo of junior captain Peter Garff and senior Noah Zaret, playing together for the first time, set the tone by sweeping their three sets, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1. “Noah’s good at net and has played in lots of pressure-packed sets,” Garff said.

“We have a lot of trust in each other,” Zaret said.

Juniors Todd Valkov and Connor Wootten took two of three sets at No. 2 and freshmen Luc Jesuele and Max May did the same at No. 3.   

Valkov, one of the heroes in last year’s comeback, grew up on clay courts in Bulgaria and will return there to practice over the summer.

“I like singles, but there’s only so many spots,” he said. “I’ll play wherever coach needs me. It’s all about keeping the streak alive.”

It was Palisades’ 39th title since the school opened in 1961 and the Dolphins’ 29th since Kling took over the boys program in 1979. The school with the second-most titles is University (14). Granada Hills has yet to win one.