Palisades Tennis Serves Notice

Coach Sean Passan figured the Palisades High girls’ tennis team would take its lumps early in the season and that’s just what happened to the Dolphins in back-to-back intersectional matches against CIF powers Beverly Hills and Mira Costa last week. Passan, in his second year since taking over for longtime coach Bud Kling, has an inexperienced but talented squad which he hopes to mold into a championship contender by season’s end. “More than anything those first two matches showed the girls that there is high caliber tennis out there and that’s the level I expect,” Passan said. “I want them to set goals, try to achieve them and have fun, win or lose.” Playing 18 sets under the round robin scoring used by the Southern Section, Palisades fell to Beverly Hills last Thursday. Technically, it was only a practice match for Palisades so Passan didn’t keep score, but he said the host Normans were the overall winners even though Palisades took a majority of the doubles sets. “Both of us [coaches] were subbing players in and out,” Passan said. “I’m trying to get a feel for who likes playing where. Our lineup isn’t set by any means but I have some ideas for certain players.” Against Mira Costa in Manhattan Beach, score was kept and the Mustangs came away with a 17-1 victory. “They enjoy matches like this because they get a chance to test themselves against better players,” Passan said. “That’s valuable experience for a team as young as ours.” Sophomore Jessie Corneli played No. 1 singles in both matches and was happy to get tough matches in before the start of Western League play. “I didn’t win any sets but I got some games,” said Corneli, who lives in Inglewood but has always gone to school in Pacific Palisades–first at Marquez Elementary, then at Paul Revere Middle School and now at PaliHi. “We’ve got it under control now. I think we have pretty strong singles and while we don’t have a lot of experience we have the potential to be really good.” Corneli said she prefers the City Section’s straight-up, best two-out-of-three set format, where No. 1 plays No. 1, No. 2 plays No. 2 and so on down. The first team to seven points wins the match. “I prefer that because it’s easier to just play one girl, instead of trying to figure a different player out every set,” said Corneli, the only Palisades player to participate in the All-City Individuals last season, reaching the second round of singles. “The key right now is taking it one match at a time. Just focus on winning each match. If we do that we’ll make the playoffs.” West Valley League rivals Granada Hills and Taft are two of the favorites for the City title. Palisades and Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies are the favorites in the Western League, although Passan admitted he knows very little about several of the teams: “The University coach is now the LACES coach, Hamilton lost everyone except its best player, we lost almost everybody and the same goes with Venice.” After spirited tryouts, Passan narrowed the squad down to 30 players. The last couple of varsity spots are being contested by a handful of players. Sophomore Perri Zaret, senior Elizabeth Silvers and sophomore Sumayyah Shabazz will join Corneli in singles, while junior Saba Youssefzadeh and sophomore Alice Musher will challenge for positions too. Varsity captain Dalia Shamsian will play doubles along with senior Ashley Navas and juniors Malina Loehrer, Pamela Soffer, Katie Takakjian and Phoebe Driscoll. Sophomore Emily Wettleson will captain the junior varsity, which includes senior Yuliana Baskina, juniors Brindly Yermian, Charlotte Farrant, Regina Doland, Madi Bisharat and Shadi Amerieh, sophomores Elle Nakamura and Leslie Ramos and freshmen Jenny Chang, Sara Freedland, Annie Gingold, Julie Levitan, Katherine Pfannkuche and Melody Wilkenfeld. “Our whole focus right now is on Hamilton,” Passan said during Monday’s practice at the Palisades Recreation Center. “We want to start league off on the right foot.” Palisades beat host Hamilton on Wednesday, hosts Westchester in a league match at 2:30 p.m. today and plays University at Stoner Park next Tuesday. The Dolphins lost to Taft in the City quarterfinals last fall.