The Palisades High boys tennis team made it two for two at the California High School Tennis Classic on Friday and Saturday in Fresno. After capturing the Division III title last year, the Dolphins moved up to take the Division II crown, much to Coach Bud Kling’s delight. “Considering we lost three of four singles players from last year, I’m thrilled that we did as well as we did in a higher division,” Kling said. “Everyone played really well.” Playing all of their matches at Clovis North High, the Dolphins beat Piedmont Hills of San Jose and Mill Valley Tamalpias on Friday to advance to Group A (the highest in Division II). On Saturday, Palisades (5-1) beat Clovis East, 6-0, Bakersfield Stockdale, 4-2, and Clovis Buchanan, 5-1, to finish first in the round robin event. Also participating in the tournament were two other City Section teams, Eagle Rock and Taft, which each lost matches Friday to drop down to lower groups. Comparatively, Pali came out smelling like a rose. “This should help us in the [City] seeding meeting,” said Kling, always looking ahead to potential playoff matchups. “To be fair, Taft was missing its top two players. But based on what I saw if they’re better than us it’s not by much.” Going undefeated in singles were freshmen brothers Oliver and Trinity Thornton and going undefeated at No. 1 doubles were Matt Goodman and Jeremy Shore. The victory helped ease the sting of Palisades’ 12-6 loss to Mira Costa in a intersectional match last Wednesday’a match in which, according to Kling, “seven sets could’ve gone either way.”
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