For the first time all season, the Palisades High girls’ varsity tennis team was tested and the Dolphins passed with flying colors to earn a berth in Friday’s City Section finals at Balboa Sports Complex in Encino. Second-seeded Palisades (13-2) barely lost a set on its way to a 10-0 league record and blanked seventh-seeded Marshall, 7-0, in the quarterfinals last Wednesday. But third-seeded Carson put up a fight in Monday’s semifinal match and it took a total team effort for the Dolphins to emerge victorious and set up a rematch of last year’s final against defending City champion Granada Hills. It appeared Palisades was on its way to another easy victory when No. 1 player Krista Slocum won, 6-2, 6-1, and the top doubles duo of Yasmir Navas and Brittany O’Neil won, 6-1, 6-1, to give the Dolphins a quick 2-0 lead. Then, freshman Kathryn Cullen lost the first set but recovered to win, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 3 singles. But then the momentum of the match turned. Lotte Kiepe and Mary Logan lost 6-4, 7-5 at No. 2 doubles and Palisades lost the first set in the three remaining matches, creating an atmosphere of high drama on both sides of the fences. Sarah Jurick and Lisa Mesrop were serving at 5-4 in the first set but lost it in a tiebreaker and eventually fell, 7-6 (2), 6-4 while Sara Yankelevitz lost, 7-5, 7-5, at No. 4 singles to even the match at 3-3. Sophomore Lauren Pugatch lost the first set at No. 2 singles and was tied 3-3 in the second set tiebreaker before winning four straight points to take the set. She went on to win the third set, 6-3, and earn the clinching point for the Dolphins. When the final point was over, Pugatch was mobbed by her teammates and got a hug from relieved head coach Bud Kling. ‘Kathryn [Cullen] really came up huge for us and Lauren [Pugatch] had to dig deep because we were four points away from being eliminated,’ Kling said. ‘We haven’t been challenged like this all season and I was anxious to see how we’d handle pressure. Some of the girls really stepped up today.’ Top-seeded Granada Hills beat West Valley league rival El Camino Real, 4-3, in another nailbiter to win the other semifinal and Kling sees Friday’s final as too close to call. ‘It could come down to one or two points,’ he said. ‘A lot may depend on how their coach chooses his lineup. Last year, they were clearly better than us. This time, I think it’ll be a lot more competitive.’ The City final begins at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Balboa Sports Complex.
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