Navas, Pugatch Win Marathon to Earn All-City Doubles Title

There were times when Yasmir Navas and Lauren Pugatch could easily have folded during last Wednesday’s City Section Individual Doubles final. Instead, the Palisades High pair survived a match point to pull out a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 upset victory over top-seeded Roxanne Plata and Julia D’Yanchenko of Granada Hills at Balboa Sports Center in Encino. “The girls fell behind 3-1 in the [second set] tiebreaker but it seemed like whenever one of them was missing the other was rock solid,” PaliHi coach Bud Kling said. “It was a great match between the two best teams in the draw and there were a lot of long rallies.” Palisades’ duo took a commanding 4-1 lead in the third set before their opponents held serve, broke and held again to pull even. Pugatch ended the two-and-a-half hour match with a backhand topspin lob winner down the line. In the third-place match, Pali seniors Lotte Kiepe and Mary Logan easily dispatched Carson seniors Sheila Pacleb and Tish Sutphin, 6-2, 6-2. “Those two were just on fire,” Kling said of Pali’s No. 2 tandem. “They would’ve given the Granada team a run for their money too.” While Pali’s doubles teams were winning on adjacent courts, sophomore teammate Katy Nikolova was trading groundstrokes with North Hollywood senior Desiree Stone for the singles title. Using an all-court game and a well-placed kick serve, Stone forced Pali’s No. 1 player into hitting uncharacteristic errors and won, 6-4, 6-0. “Katy simply lost to an older, more mature player who makes you cover every corner of the court,” Kling said. “Desiree was serving and volleying, using drop shots, slicing her backhands–she was constantly changing the pace and I think that threw Katy off her game.” PaliHi senior Krista Slocum, who lost to Nikolova in the semifinals, was awarded third place by default when Axelle Klincke of North Hollywood withdrew from the tournament prior to her semifinal match against Stone.