Making their Points

Pali High Tennis Tames Colts in City Section Semifinals

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

The moment the first ball was struck there was never a doubt which team would win last Thursday afternoon’s City Section Open Division girls tennis playoff match at the Palisades Tennis Center.

Palisades, the Western League winner and defending City champion, was hosting Marine League winner Carson in the semifinals and the top-seeded Dolphins won all 14 sets played, dropping three games in the process, to prevail 7-0 and earn a trip to the finals next Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. at Balboa Sports Center in Encino. Awaiting the Dolphins will be familiar foe Granada Hills. The second-seeded Highlanders defeated No. 3 Eagle Rock 6-1 in the other semifinal.

This is the eighth time in nine years the two charter schools have met in the upper division final.

Palisades edged the Highlanders 4-3 for the championship last fall—the Dolphins’ sixth straight City crown, second straight in the Open Division and 26th overall.   

At the No. 1 singles position, Palisades sophomore Iris Berman  beat the Colts’ Amber Francisco, 6-0, 6-0. Junior Noe Winter beat Kylamae Repollo by the identical score at No. 2 singles and juniors Halsey Hulse and Kalea Martin also won by 6-0, 6-0 scores at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, respectively.

At No. 1 doubles, Emma Akiyama and Jade Finestone won 6-0, 6-1. At the No. 2 spot Sarah Slavkin and Sophia Arvin blanked  Carson’s Shaira DeGuzman and Danielle Avelino, 6-0, 6-0. Pairing up for the third doubles spot in the best-of-seven, straight up format were Anaya Ayanbadejo and Norah Morlot, who beat the No. 4-seeded Colts’ Victoria Sanchez and Vanessa Cruz, 6-0, 6-2.