When the season started, Palisades High girls tennis coach Sean Passan had two goals for his team: defend its City Section championship and win a round in the CIF Southern California Regional tournament.
The Dolphins achieved their first goal last Friday with a 6-1 triumph over Granada Hills for the City Division I title. Now, they have a chance to make history of a different kind by advancing to the regional quarterfinals for the first time.
Palisades (14-1) is seeded fourth in the 16-team bracket and will host Laguna Beach in the first round Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the Palisades Tennis Center. The four singles and three doubles matches are worth one point apiece (all best two out of three sets), with the first school to four points winning — the same scoring format used in the City playoffs.
The Orange Coast League champion Breakers (19-5) lost to Murrieta Valley 12-6 in the Southern Section Division 2 semifinals last Wednesday. Murrieta Valley went on to lose to Foothill League champion Valencia in the final.
One key matchup figures to be at No. 1 doubles, where the Dolphins’ Maddy Prins and Lizzie Belokonnyi will likely trade groundstrokes with Laguna Beach’s Ashley Shelton and Madeline Loomis, who swept their three sets against Murrieta Valley.
If Palisades prevails it will advance to the quarterfinals against Fresno Bullard or Corona del Mar on Friday at 11:30 a.m. at The Claremont Club. Semifinal matches follow Friday at 2:30 p.m. and the finals are at 1 p.m. Saturday, also at The Claremont Club.
Below are Tuesday’s first-round matchups:
Carlsbad La Costa Canyon at #1 Peninsula
Valencia at #8 La Jolla Country Day
Fresno Bullard at #5 Corona del Mar
Laguna Beach at #4 Palisades
Poway at #3 Irvine University
Murrieta Valley at #6 Clovis Buchanan
Granada Hills at #7 Santa Barbara
— Steve Galluzzo
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