As expected, the Palisades High boys varsity tennis team was seeded No. 1 in the City Section playoffs. However, head coach Bud Kling, who did not attend last Thursday’s seeding meeting, expressed disapproval at where certain schools were placed in the 12-team championship bracket. “We definitely have a tougher draw than [No. 2 seed] Granada Hills,” Kling said. “We’ll have to play El Camino Real, which lost to us in the finals last year, and Taft, which I think is the third best team in the City. Eagle Rock got seeded third because it beat Taft but I understand Taft didn’t have all of its players.” The defending champion Dolphins (13-0) received a first-round bye and hosted eighth-seeded El Camino Real in the quarterfinals yesterday (result unavailable at press time). The Conquistadors defeated ninth-seeded Sylmar 16 1/2-3 on Monday. If Palisades eliminated El Camino Real, it will host fourth-seeded Taft in the semifinals Monday at 1 p.m. at Balboa Sports Center in Encino. The finals are May 12 at the same site. Several Palisades players traveled north for the 105th annual Ojai Valley Tournament last weekend. In the boys’ CIF singles division, Ben Tom lost to No. 7 seed Mike Youn of Glendale in the first round and the doubles tandem of Seth Mandelkern and Stephen Surjue lost in the first round to a team from Foothill. Mason Hays and Chase Pekar each lost first-round matches in the boys 16s division. In the girls’ CIF doubles division, Pali’s Sarah Jurick and Mary Logan advanced to the quarterfinals before losing in straight sets to the No. 3 seeded team. Lotte Kiepe lost in the first round of the CIF singles division. The Dolphins’ top player, Katy Nikolova, reached the quarterfinals of the 16s division, losing to top-seeded Catherine Isip, 6-1, 6-7 (8-6), 6-1. Audrey Ashraf and Kathryn Cullen each lost in the second round of the same division. “The competition was really strong,” Kling said of Ojai. “Katy’s quarterfinal match was very close. She had the other girl frustrated at the start of the third set.”
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