Tennis “Sloppy” Against Venice

On paper, it was just another easy win for the Palisades High girls tennis team. However, Head Coach Bud Kling was none too pleased with the Dolphins’ 6-1 rout of Venice in last Wednesday’s City quarterfinal match. That’s because he felt his team was “sloppy” and needs to play sharper if it hopes to defend its City championship. “Several of the matches were much closer than they should have been,” Kling said. “I want us to be improving each match, especially now in the playoffs.” Despite handily beating their Western League rivals for the third time this season, the top-seeded Dolphins (17-2) showed chinks in their armor that, although not evident against the overmatched Gondoliers, could pose a problem in subsequent matches. Palisades beat fourth-seeded Granada Hills 6-1 in the semifinals on Wednesday and will play second-seeded Taft in the finals at Balboa Tennis Center on Friday at 1 p.m. “We may have caught a bit of break not having to play both Carson and Taft,” Kling said after the Venice match. “I think we match up better with Granada Hills but we’ll see how it goes.” Palisades’ only two defeats this season were to Southern Section powers Beverly Hills and Mira Costa and neither of those teams was at the Palisades Recreation Center courts last Wednesday. Instead it was ninth-seeded Venice, fresh off an opening-round upset over No. 8 Sylmar. “There’s a saying that you never want to play the same team three times in one season,” Kling said. “Fortunately for us it worked out for the best, although they played well in several sets.” It appeared Palisades was on its way to an easy sweep when No. 1 singles player Katy Nikolova blanked the Gondos’ Sally Mercado, 6-0, 6-0, and Kathryn Cullen beat Venice’s Ann Yun, 6-1, 6-0, at the No. 3 spot. Phoebe Driscoll and partner Yasamin Ghiasi moved the Dolphins one match away from victory with a 6-3, 6-1 triumph at No. 2 doubles, but that clinching point would not come easy. In a duel between No.1 doubles teams, the Gondos’ tandem of Jessica Haraga and Kima Moreno rallied to outlast Palisades’ Audrey Ashraf and Erika Lee, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(3). Venice’s top pair was aggressive at the net and capitalized on numerous unforced errors by the Dolphins’ duo to prevail in a tense match that lasted over two hours. At No. 4 singles, Palisades’ Genna Rochlin lost the first set to Kristine Kamimura, before winning the last two, 7-5, 7-5, to pull out the match. “Genna was playing the other girls’ game in the first set but she made some adjustments in the second set and had better results,” Kling said. The remaining matches were merely a formality, as Palisades’ Rose Schlaff and Marina Sterngold won, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 3 doubles and freshman Samantha Kogan won, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 2 singles to provide the final margin. “If we make it to the finals against Taft that is going to be really tough and we’ll need to be playing our best to beat them,” Kling said after the Venice match. “There’s a reason why they got the No. 2 seed.”