Through no fault of its own, the Palisades High boys tennis team continues to feast on a soft Western League schedule, shredding Hamilton, University and Fairfax, each 7-0, in the last week to improve to 15-4 overall and 7-0 against league foes.
Head coach Bud Kling estimates that the Dolphins have not lost a league match since at least 1989, which would be 10 years after he began his tenure as head coach at PaliHi. The real tests for his team this year have come in out-of-league matches against teams like Beverly Hills and Mira Costa, although LACES provided several challenges on March 13.
The two teams will meet again on Monday to decide the Western League championship. The Dolphins won the first meeting, 6-1, suffering their only match loss of the season when top-ranked freshman Zac Brodney of LACES knocked off junior Daniel Rozovsky in three sets, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. With Rozovsky winning the first set of that match, it marked the only game Brodney has lost all season.
This season for PaliHi, Rozovsky, a transfer from Connecticut, has spearheaded the team’s singles dominance along with co-captain and fellow junior Ryan Schindler and freshmen Jared Fong and Ben Goldberg. Rozovsky and Schindler will both play in the prestigious Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament, starting on April 25, along with senior Robbie Bellamy, who doesn’t play Western League matches.
Kling has shuffled his doubles lineups, rotating between a deep yet senior-less group that includes juniors Brian Schlaff and John Collier, sophomore Bailey Joseph and freshmen Alex and Kevin Liu, Evan Holland, and Henry Catanzaro.
Also at the coach’s disposal is sophomore Barron Chavez, a transfer from North Carolina who is playing with a one-handed backhanded stroke as he recovers from a broken wrist.
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