Pali High Tennis Second at Sage Hill

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Sometimes it takes a little time to break in a new partner, but  that wasn’t the case for Palisades High tennis players Alex Miller and Caroline Ross.

On Saturday, the two teamed up to earn the clinching doubles point in the Dolphins’ 5-4 victory over Sage Hill, a result which secured Palisades second place at the Coast Cup Prep Classic in Newport Beach.   

“Coach told us to just have fun,” Miller said. “I didn’t know the overall score but it was good not to have the pressure on us. We both aren’t afraid to hit down the line, we have the same mindset and took it one point at a time. I like doubles more because I prefer being at the net”

Miller and Ross first paired up   four days earlier when they won 6-4 at No. 2 doubles against Westlake. They carried that confidence over to the weekend, winning their first match against JSerra 8-0, prevailing in a tiebreaker over Valencia and winning 8-2 at the No. 2 spot against Sage Hill.

“I actually did know the situation because I saw the scores on the other courts,” said Ross, who won the City Individual doubles title with Gigi Feingold last fall. “Coach [Bud] Kling didn’t tell us who we’d be playing with here, but I kind of had a feeling it would be Alex. We didn’t have a specific    strategy, we just figured things out  as we went along. This format was different than what we’re used to. There’s a lot of sitting and waiting but the caliber of competition was better than Fresno. Personally, I’d prefer to be No. 1 doubles, but this is a team sport and I want to play wherever I’m needed the most.”

Valencia won the round robin tournament, edging Palisades 5-4, but the Dolphins won the “Sub Shine” Cup thanks to Emma Akiyama, Taylor Barfield and Alex Hart. Junior Sophia Amato, who won two of her three singles sets and two of three doubles sets with her twin sister Ireland, was named to the All-Tournament team along with Noe Winter, who won 8-6 at No. 3 singles against Sage Hill and JSerra and partnered with fellow freshman Halsey Hulse to win 8-0 at No. 2 doubles against Valencia.

Palisades improved to 3-0 in Western League play by blanking host Fairfax 7-0 on Monday.

Last Wednesday, the doubles swept University. Ross and Miller won 8-0, Kalea Martin and Sarah Slavkin won 8-0 and so too did Akiyama and Kate Harrington.