Tennis Reloads for Title Run

PALISADES HIGH ROUNDUP

This was the year Palisades High tennis coach Bud Kling expected his team to reestablish itself as the top program in the City Section. Palisades has won more team titles than every other City school combined, but none since it captured the last of a record five straight championships in 1999. On paper, Palisades looked to be the pre-season favorite to end the dynasty of El Camino Real, which tied Pali’s record by winning a fifth straight team title last season. That was before the Dolphins unexpectedly lost Chris Ko and Ben Tom, the top two singles players from their City semifinalist team. Ko quit just before the season and Kling suspended Tom for not completing the off-season program. Now Palisades is merely one of several schools with a chance to win it all. However, Kling’s teams often exceed their coach’s expectations. ‘We’re going to beat people more with depth, by scrapping and fighting,’ Kling said. ‘We don’t have the talent we were expecting to have so we’re going to have to gut out a lot of matches. Our threes will have to beat the other team’s twos and our fours will have to beat their threes.’ Competing for the No. 1 singles spot are junior Adam DeLoge, a transfer from Loyola High, and returner Stephen Surjue. Ariel Oleynik and Michael Light will round out the singles lineup. After posting a 3-3 record at the Fresno Tournament, Palisades won two of three matches against Southern Section teams. Pali routed El Segundo and Santa Monica but lost on games to host Beverly Hills in a round robin format. ‘That was disappointing because we were up 9-6 in sets and we also led by six games,’ Kling said. ‘If we were playing with City scoring we would’ve won because we beat them in the head-to-head matchups. We just couldn’t finish it off.’ The Dolphins’ top doubles tandem will consist of co-captain Darya Bakhtiar and Seth Mandelkern, who moved to Italy with his family last year but is back to bolster Pali’s lineup. Sephir Safii and Mason Hayes will plat the No. 2 position. Many players will challenge for playing time at No. 3 doubles, including co-captain Neema Ghiasi, Mikele Grando, Josh Kim, Daniel Burge, first-year player Reilly Karp, Erik Eckhert and George Hudak, a sophomore from the Slovac Republic. Palisades opened defense of its Western League championship Tuesday against Venice and hosts Fairfax today at the Palisades Tennis Center. Baseball Palisades rebounded from three consecutive losses to mercy Brentwood in six innings last Saturday at George Robert Field. The Dolphins (2-3) pounded their intersectional rivals with 15 hits, including the game-ending single by freshman Garrett Champion. Matt Skolnik went 3-for-4 and scored two runs, Dylan Cohen had two hits, a double and two runs scored, Andy Megee went 3-for-4 and Monte Doebel-Hickock was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two runs batted in. Cole Cook pitched 4 1/3 innings for the win, striking out the side in the first inning and finishing with four strikeouts. Turhan Folse relieved Cook with the bases loaded in the fifth inning and struck out two batters to end the Eagles’ rally. Palisades traveled to Woodland Hills Taft for a nonleague game Tuesday and hosts Crenshaw today at 3 p.m. Boys Golf Coach James Paleno’s squad lost a cardoff to Chatsworth, 82-78, after both teams shot 220 in a 6A League match last Wednesday at Norwood Country Club. The Dolphins (1-1) were led by co-medalist Steven Chung, who shot a 4-over-par 40. Softball Palisades opened the season with a 6-1 loss at Washington, followed with a victory over North Hollywood, then lost to Lincoln, 20-2. The Dolphins’ most impressive effort so far this season was last Thursday’s rout of host Jefferson, 20-5, as Nicole Torres went 3-for-4 with a home run, a triple and five runs batted in. Pali (2-5) had to forfeit Lincoln Tournament games against Belmont and Dorsey Saturday. The Dolphins allowed 21 hits and committed six errors in Monday’s 18-3 loss at Granada Hills. Head coach Calvin parker’s squad hosted Roosevelt on Wednesday (result unavailable at press time). Swimming The Dolphins’ defending City champion boys’ varsity squad posted Marine League victories over Wilmington Banning (145 to 28) and San Pedro to remain undefeated at 3-0 this season. The City runner-up girls’ varsity beat Banning 142-33 then beat San Pedro to also improve to 3-0. Track & Field The Dolphins participated in its first competition of the season last Thursday, finishing third in a tri-meet against Southern Section powerhouse Peninsula and City champion San Pedro. Pali’s boys’ varsity finished with 17 points, behind Peninsula (105) and San Pedro (39). In the varsity girls division, Peninsula finished with 125 points, San Pedro with 30 and Palisades with 12. Boys Volleyball Under the leadership of new coach and former PaliHi player John Wilken (Class of 2001), the Dolphins’ varsity squad won its first two nonleague matches before falling to City champion Chatsworth, 25-20, 25-8, 25-16 last Thursday. Pali setter Rusty Barneson had 21 assists, eight aces and three digs and Joey Sarafian added five kills, three digs and three aces in a 27-25, 25-11, 22-25, 25-14 victory over Carson on March 7. Senior outside hitters Colin Cronin and Lucas Pols, senior middle blocker Brandon Bryant and junior outside hitter Beck Johnson round out the Dolphins’ starting lineup. Junior middle blockers Jacob Khoubian and Christian Clark, senior outside hitter Juan Dubon, junior middle blocker Robert Mees and freshman setter Scott Vegas round out the squad. Palisades hosted Venice in its Western League opener Tuesday and hosts Fairfax today at 2:30 p.m.