Dolphins Duo Reaches Finals of City Tourney

Having been dethroned in the City Section team finals by Granada Hilsl, Palisades High’s girls tennis team sought to make amends at the Individual Tournament. The Dolphins had four entries in the 32-player singles draw and three pairs in the 32-team doubles draw, both of which wrapped up last week in Lake Balboa.

Palisades’ only seeded player in the singles bracket was senior Sophie Szeder at No. 8. She beat Natalie Carter of San Pedro 6-1, 6-1 in the first round and outlasted Yuran Jung of North Hollywood 7-5, 3-6, 10-8 in the second round before falling 6-0, 6-0 to No. 1 seed Johannah Galindo of Marshall. Anais Israels won the first set 6-2 in her first-round match against Eagle Rock’s Mia Walker but lost the second and had to retire with an injury. Nicole Nguyen won her first match against Birmingham’s Jaelyn Rivera then lost her second to Granada Hills’ Sayuri Parandian. Ella Engel lost three games in her first two matches but fell 6-0, 6-2 in the quarterfinals to Julianna Galindo, who lost to her older sister in the final for the third time.

Palisades’ No. 1 doubles duo of Anne Kelly and Sachi Gancheva rolled to the semifinals where they defeated teammates Dori Jahmedor and Penelope Mihal, who had upset the Dolphins’ No. 2 tandem of Becca Rosenblatt and Simone McCary in the quarterfinals. Kelly and Gancheva lost 6-0, 6-2 in the finals to defending champions Georgia Brown and Priscilla Grinner of Granada Hills.