The Palisades High girls tennis team entered the CIF Southern California Regional tournament full of confidence, having just captured its second straight City Section title.
Despite coming close several times, the Dolphins had never made it out of the first round of the regionals and they were hoping to change that Tuesday against Laguna Beach.
However, the Breakers notched two of the four singles points and two of the three doubles points en route to a 4-3 victory at the Palisades Tennis Center. Top singles player Summer Dvorak defeated Palisades’ Ilana Oleynik, 6-2, 6-2, and at No. 2 singles Kira Hamilton beat Diana Silvers, 6-0, 6-4.
“She was a good player,” Silvers said. “I came back though in the second set, but I couldn’t quite win it.”
Caroline Vincent notched the Dolphins’ first point with a 6-0, 6-0 win against Ashley Fair at No. 3 singles, but the Orange Coast League champions (20-5) took the first two doubles matches to build an insurmountable 4-1 lead.
At No. 2 doubles, Bailey Jaeger and Kelly Keller beat Morgan Swan and Ally Williams, 7-6(4), 6-4, and at the No. 3 spot Natasha Keces and Malia Helms defeated the Dolphins’ Izzy Guterson and Jesse Zand, 6-4, 6-4.
Sophomore Abby Schleichkorn swept the Breakers’ No. 4 player Iman Berri, 6-3, 6-2.
The best match of the afternoon was also the last one to finish. Palisades’ top doubles tandem of Maddy Prins and Lizzie Belokonnyi rallied past Ashley Shelton and Madeline Loomis, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, to make the final margin closer. Palisades (14-2) lost to Newhall Hart by the same score last year.
“This is the second straight time we’ve come within one point,” Pali High Coach Sean Passan said. “We got the lineup we wanted from them, things just didn’t go our way. Still, it was a great season, we accomplished a lot as a team and we have a lot to be proud of.”
Laguna Beach, which lost to Murrieta Valley 12-6 in the Southern Section Division 2 semifinals, will meet fifth-seeded Corona del Mar in the quarterfinals Friday at The Claremont Club. Corona del Mar defeated Fresno Bullard 6-1 in the first round.
Click here for the updated regional bracket.
— Steve Galluzzo
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