Tennis Aces First League Tests

Winning the Western League is never the ultimate goal for the Palisades High girls tennis program. It is merely one milestone the Dolphins achieve each fall in their pursuit of City Section titles. Still, Head Coach Bud Kling takes every match seriously and expects his players to do the same. So it came as no surprise that the Dolphins arrived at Stoner Park for their league opener against University with their game faces on. That did not bode well for the Wildcats, who managed to win only five games in seven pro sets. Leading the charge to Palisades’ shutout victory was junior Katy Nikolova, who needed half an hour to win 8-0 at No. 1 singles. Playing No. 2 singles, Kathryn Cullen won by the same score. Audrey Ashraf won 8-3 at No. 3 singles and Genna Rochlin won 8-2 at the fourth singles spot for the Dolphins. Palisades’ doubles were even more dominant. Lauren Pugatch and Krystal Hansard won 8-0 at No. 1, Erika Lee and Rose Schlaff won 8-0 at No. 2 and Alex Kling teamed with Yasamin Ghiasi to win 8-0 at the No. 3 spot. Playing the same lineup against Hamilton the following afternoon at the Palisades Tennis Center, Pali cruised to another 7-0 win. Once again, none of the Dolphins’ doubles teams dropped a game. On Monday, Palisades traveled to Fairfax for its third league match and while the result was the same–a 7-0 victory for Pali–several players switched positions. This time, the Dolphins’ doubles tandems consisted of Ashraf and Hansard at No. 1, Lee and Schlaff at No. 2 and Ghiasi and Kling at No. 3. Nikolova, who reached the finals of the City Individual tournament last year, continued her domination of league opponents with a victory at No. 1 singles. With three victories apiece, Palisades and Venice meet today at 2:30 p.m. to determine who will take over first place in league. The Dolphins travel to league newcomer Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies for the first time next Tuesday and wrap up the first round of league play next Thursday against Westchester at the PTC. Palisades traveled to Malibu for the final round of the Bay Area Classic on Wednesday (result unavailable at press time).