Tennis Is Top Seed in City

It was a foregone conclusion that the Palisades High boys’ varsity tennis team would be awarded the top seed in the City Section’s 12-team championship division. Sure enough, that’s just where the defending champion Dolphins ended up–#1 in the tournament and ready to bring home another title. It is a position Coach Bud Kling and his team is accustomed to being in. “We’re a little banged up going into the playoffs, so you never know,” Kling said, noting that some of his best players are nursing injuries. “Eagle Rock is seeded second but I haven’t seen them play so I really don’t know how good they are.” The Dolphins went 12-0 in the Western League and their only losses (barring tournaments) were to perennial Southern Section powerhouses Brentwood and Harvard-Westlake. By virtue of its seeding, Palisades got a bye in Monday’s first round and routed #8 Marshall, 28-1 1/2 in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. The Dolphins crushed the Barristers 29 1/2-0 in the same round last spring. Marshall defeated #9 Chatsworth 18 1/2-11 in the first round on Monday. Palisades hosts the Granada Hills-Taft winner in the semifinals at 1 p.m. next Tuesday at the Palisades Tennis Center. The finals are at 1 p.m. next Friday, May 14, at Balboa Sports Center in Encino. Baseball Mike Voelkel’s varsity squad stayed undefeated in the Western League with a 9-2 victory at University last Wednesday and a 3-1 home win over Fairfax on Friday. The next day, Palisades lost 4-0 to Carson in a Redondo Tournament game–only its second loss to a City opponent all season (both are to Marine League teams). Dylan Jeffers pitched a complete game with 11 strikeouts, Chase Holmes homered to right field and Josh Korn homered off the scoreboard in deep center field against the Wildcats. Back at home against the Lions two days later Korn doubled to deep center to plate a run and Nick Poulos pitched five shutout innings for the Dolphins. Palisades suffered its first league loss on Tuesday, falling 13-1 in five innings at Fairfax. Girls’ Lacrosse Palisades beat Westridge, 10-3, then routed Birmingham, 16-4, and outscored Huntington Park, 16-14, last week to extend its winning streak to 10. Its last loss was 10-5 to Mission Viejo on March 6 at the Rose Bowl Tournament. The Dolphins remain unblemished versus City Section. They head to La Canada for a first-round tournament game today. Softball The Dolphins wrapped up the regular season with a 13-10 victory at Malibu in a intersectional game last Saturday and Coach Ray Marsden liked what he saw. “We were able to turn two double plays and only made two errors, which was remarkable considering only four girls were playing in their normal positions,” Marsden said. “I had to move around several players and they were all able to play their new positions effectively. Three in particular were Shannon Dunn going from center to catcher, Karina Perez going from catcher to third base and Tara Farahdel at second base.” Pitcher Reyna Zaragoza hit a two-out RBI double in the top of the sixth inning to regain the lead for Palisades, which finds out today if it made the City Invitational playoffs. If the Dolphins are in the 32-team draw they will either host a first-round game at 3 p.m. (if they are the higher seed) or travel for a first-round game at 3 p.m. (if they are the lower seed). Second-round games are next Thursday (same time) and will be hosted by higher-seeded teams. Track & Field Sophomore Grant Stromberg won the boys’ 1600 varsity race in 4:39 and the 3200 in 10:34 while freshman Jacklyn Bamberger pulled off the same “double” in the girls’ varsity at last Friday’s Western League dual meet against Westchester. Eric Lopez won the 800 meters in 2:08.