Palisades High boys’ varsity tennis players had revenge on their minds when they traveled to Manhattan Beach for an intersectional rematch against Mira Costa, which handed the Dolphins a bitter defeat last season. It looked like the Mustangs were on their way to another victory before Palisades won the final three sets to tie the match 9-9. Total games were then counted and the Dolphins came out on top, 82-76, their biggest win of the year so far. “I’m really proud of the way we fought back,” Coach Bud Kling said. “We were down 7-5 after two rotations and it wasn’t looking good, but it shows how important every game is in this [round robin] format.” The doubles tandems of Robert Silvers-Kyung Choi and Spencer Pekar- Joseph Silvers had to pull off upsets in the final round to complete the comeback. Pekar thought he had served an ace on set point but it was called a let, so he had to win the point again for good measure’a clutch 6-4 win over Mira Costa’s top duo of David Curtis and Brian Humbarger. “I was prepared to do it,” Pekar said. “We knew what was riding on this so if we have to beat them twice, so be it. That’s the way to go.” The Dolphins (6-1) won despite earning just three points in singles. Top player Oliver Thornton and freshmen Alex Giannini and Robbie Bellamy each beat Mira Costa’s No. 2 player Matt Wah and lost to the Mustangs’ No. 1 player Devon Sousa and No.
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