Copyright Los Angeles Times
Thirty and counting. That is how many times the Palisades girls’ tennis team has won the City Section championship. The top-seeded Dolphins (16-6) swept all seven matches in the first rotation to build a commanding lead and never looked back on their way to a 24½ to 5 triumph on Thursday in their annual Open Division finals meeting with Granada Hills at Balboa Sports Center in Encino. The schools have combined to win the last 24 upper division titles — a streak dating back to 2002 — and have met in 14 of the last 15 finals. Since the Open Division debuted in 2017, Palisades has won it six times, Granada Hills three. The Dolphins hold the all-time record with 30 City crowns, 22 of those under coach Bud Kling. He has also won 32 titles with the boys, including the last 16 in a row, for a total of 54. Kling, who took over the boys’ program in 1979 and the girls in 1985, lost his home in the Palisades fire and announced that the boys’ season in the spring will be his last. He already owns more City titles than any coach in any sport in section history, but he could not help entertaining the thought of one more. “Fifty-five would be nice,” he said. Anne Kelly and Nicole Nguyen swept their three sets at No. 1 doubles and earned the title-clinching point while fellow seniors Ella Engel and Anais Israels swept 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, at the No. 2 position after having also not lost a game in three sets in the semifinals. The second-seeded Highlanders (13-2) have netted 14 City titles and had won the Open Division the previous two years, including a 17 to 12½ victory over Palisades last year. Granada Hills lost seven starters to graduation, including top singles player Sayuri Parandian (the City individual singles runner-up last season) and two-time City individual doubles champions Georgia Brown and Priscilla Grinner. Shaya Jovanovic, who lost to Parandian 8-6 in a tiebreaker but won all of her other sets last fall, easily swept her three sets at No. 1 singles Thursday before being subbed out for the fourth rotation with Palisades’ victory secure. Maria Kandinova won her three sets at No. 2 singles before also being subbed out. The Dolphins earned their spot in the final with a 21 to 8½ victory over No. 4 El Camino Real on Tuesday while Granada Hills topped No. 3 Venice 17½ to 12 in the other semifinal.
