Palisades High won the City Section team tennis title three weeks ago and were hoping to bring home at least one trophy from the All-City Individuals tournament too. But neither of the Dolphins’ top two doubles teams was able to win its final match of the season. ‘I think they’d much rather have the team championship than win the individuals,’ Pali coach Bud Kling said. ‘But any time you reach the finals, of course you want to win.’ The Dolphins’ No. 2 team of junior Stephen Surjue and sophomore Sepehr Safii advanced to last Wednesday’s championship match with a dominating 6-1, 6-2 victory over Josh Dver and Chris Oh of Chatsworth. But they faced a more experienced team in the finals at Balboa Sports Center in Encino and lost 7-5, 7-5 to seniors Jared Novak and Jeremy Choo of Granada Hills. Palisades’ pair lost three consecutive winner-take-all deuce points to fall behind 4-1 in the first set before rallying to tie at 5-5. But the Highlanders’ duo took opver from there. ‘Stephen and Sepehr stroked as well as they could from the baseline,’ Kling said. ‘The other guys just had huge serves and that’s a big advantage in doubles.’ Still, finishing runner-up and making first-team All-City was a satisfying end to a memorable season for players who will be key factors in Palisades’ bid to repeat. Meanwhile, the Dolphins’ top duo of senior Darya Bakhtiar and junior Seth Mandelkern, was seeded first in the 32-team draw but lost to Novak and Choo, 6-3, 7-5, in the semifinals. In the third-place match last Wednesday, Pali’s duo lost to Chatsworth’s Josh Dver and Chris Oh, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, in the third-place match to earn first-team honors. Adam Deloge took second-team honors in singles while Pali’s No. 3 doubles team of Neema Ghiasi and Michael Light was named to the All-City second team.
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