Dolphins Spike Archrival Venice

The opponent the Palisades High boys’ volleyball team always measures itself by in the Western League has long been beach rival Venice. Last year, the teams split their two league meetings but the Gondos won more total games and, because of that, finished atop the standings at season’s end. Fast forward to Monday when the Dolphins had their first chance to prove that this year’s team is not about to settle for second place. Led by the hitting of co-captain Kene Izuchukwu, the Dolphins took command from the start, winning the first set, 25-15, on their way to a sweep that reversed the result the last time the two teams met. The Dolphins (9-4-1 overall, 5-0 in league) travel to Venice for a rematch April 28 but so dominant was Palisades on Monday that home-court advantage may not matter. Baseball The varsity played in the prestigious San Diego Lions Tournament over spring break and finished 1-2. The Dolphins jumped ahead of Valhalla 6-4 last Monday behind the pitching of Adam Flores but the San Diego school scored three times in the sixth inning to win 7-6. After falling to Coronado 13-2 in the second game, the Dolphins bounced back with a 3-0 victory over City Section rival Granada Hills Kennedy. Nick Poulos had another impressive outing on the mound, tossing a one-hitter with 12 strikeouts and one walk in 85 pitches for the complete-game victory. Chase Holmes hit a two-run homer for the Dolphins, who travel to LACES for a Western League game today at 3 p.m. Softball Kayla Jones tagged a runner out at third to end a last desperate rally by Venice and Palisades held on to win, 7-5 at the Stadium by the Sea. Amanda Alvarez hit a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the fifth that proved to be the winning run, Hannah Fagerbakke had a triple and two walks and Jenna Paul reached base all four times she batted. Reyna Zaragoza pitched a complete game for Palisades (5-6, 2-3), which batted around in the third inning to take a 3-1 lead, then added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth. Venice scored three in the seventh and had the bases loaded with one out before a fly out to left field and a grounder to third ended the game. Boys’ Tennis The Dolphins continue to reign supreme in the Western League. They completed the first round of league matches undefeated with Monday’s victory over Venice. Palisades travels to Santa Monica for the last round of the Bay Area Classic next Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.