Better by Half | PaliHi Boys Tennis Edges El Camino Real for Record Sixth Straight City Title

Midway through last Thursday’s City Championship match against El Camino Real, the Palisades High boys tennis team was in trouble. The Dolphins needed an unexpected win to give themselves a chance to make history and they got it from freshman RJ Sands, who upset reigning City singles champion Jaime Barajas, 6-4, for a crucial point that proved to be the difference in the Dolphins’ 15-14 1/2 victory at Balboa Sports Center in Encino.

“I was nervous because I knew there was a chance we couldn’t win, but I was playing really consistent and I could see him getting frustrated,” said Sands, who let out a roar after winning the first game and remained vocal throughout the set, unnerving the Conquistadores senior. “When he chucked his racquet and got that point penalty I knew I had to win it there or else.”

Barajas pulled even at 4-4, but Sands held serve and broke to close out the set when Barajas hit a forehand long at 30-40.

The victory was the Dolphins’ 32nd City boys crown and their sixth straight, breaking the section record they’d shared with ECR.

“We hoped to split singles but we didn’t and with this score anything that goes wrong is the difference,” said Conquistadores Coach Michael Lannom, who moved singles players Gabe Joseph and EJ Loredo into doubles.

“That was smart because those guys wouldn’t have won in singles and they ended up sweeping, so they went from zero points to 4 1/2,” said PaliHi Coach Bud Kling, who claimed his 37th City championship (22 with the boys, 15 with the girls) after becoming only the third tennis coach in state history to surpass 1,000 wins in March. “Normally I’m religious about keeping a running score, but today I didn’t. I just knew we had to pick up a singles point somewhere and it happened to be RJ.”

ECR (15-1) took five of nine doubles sets, but Sands won three of four singles sets and Ben Goldberg, Daniel Rozovsky and Jared Fong all won two for top-seeded Palisades (23-2), which clinched the title when Fong beat ECR’s No. 3 Julius Loredo, 6-1.

“There was a lot of pressure but I tried to not go for too much and attacked his backhand,” said Fong, who won three singles sets as a freshman in last year’s 17 1/2-12 finals win against ECR. “That was a huge accomplishment for RJ because Jaime was supposed to sweep.”

Senior Ryan Schindler paired with freshman Lucas Bellamy to win two of three sets at No. 3 doubles. Bailey Joseph and Kevin Liu won a set at No. 1 doubles and John Collier and Alex Liu won one at No. 2 for the Dolphins and in the end, every set mattered.

Rozovsky and Fong also nearly upset Barajas, each falling 7-5.

“This was our goal from Day 1,” Rozovsky said. “We thought they’d play a different lineup but we knew it would be a good match. It’s been a special season because we got Coach Kling to 1,000 [wins] and we got the City record.”

The Dolphins had little time to savor their latest triumph as they were right back on the court Monday for the first round of the City Individuals.

In singles, Goldberg was seeded fourth in the 32-player draw and won 6-0, 6-0 while Rozovsky, seeded sixth, won 6-0, 6-0. Fong won 6-0, 6-3 and Sands won 6-1, 6-1.

Barajas was seeded No. 1, followed by LACES sophomore Zac Brodney, who beat Goldberg and Rozovsky in Western League play and lost to Barajas in last year’s singles final.

In doubles, Schindler and Joseph were seeded No. 2 out of 32 teams and won 6-0, 6-0; No. 4-seeded Alex Liu and Collier won 6-1, 6-1 and Kevin Liu teamed with Alex Oh to win 6-0, 6-0. Kevin Liu and Joseph   were third in the City tournament last spring.

The second round was Tuesday, the quarterfinals are next Monday at noon, the semifinals are next Tuesday at noon and the singles and doubles finals are Wednesday at noon at Balboa Tennis Center.

Winning the team title also earned Palisades a berth in the Southern California Regional playoffs, which begin May 27 and conclude May 31 at the Claremont Club.