Waves Roll to Section Tennis Title

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Sunday marked yet another milestone for the Pali Waves, a 10-and-under squad representing the Palisades Tennis Center.

Under the guidance of former PTC and Palisades High player Ben Tom, the Waves won their second straight USTA Southern California U10 Advanced Flight sectional championship at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Palm Springs.

Jex Frankel not only finished the two-day event undefeated in singles play, but also won the tournament’s Sportsmanship Award.

Jack McGary also went unbeaten in singles as the Waves  took first place with a final tally of 66 points. The Barnacle TC Blasters of San Diego were second with 51 points, Tiger Tennis  of Riverside was third with 45 points and Claremont Club was fourth with 20 points.

James MacDonald and Sawyer Lai were  standouts  on the doubles courts for the Waves. They won all of their sets, including the deciding tiebreaker against Tiger Tennis.

Braun Levi and Simon Catanzaro ended up 1-2 after some close and hardfought matches, but still earned 12 valuable points for their team.

The “Sensational Six” plans to keep training and possibly even challenge the Northern California champions.

The team has formed a tight bond and with some of the boys turning 11 in the spring, players must decide whether or not to move up to the 11-12 Advanced Flight (even 9-year-olds Levi and Catanzaro) in order to keep the team together.

In June, the Waves captured the Advanced Division of the USTA Southern California Sectionals at Stub Hub Center in Carson, winning by 18 points and dropping only two matches in the tournament.

The Waves accumulated 69 points to top the Barnes Barnzees (51) and the Bomb Birds (50). Each team plays two singles matches and two doubles matches against each of the other teams in a round robin format and the team with the most points wins.

The Waves also finished undefeated in the San Fernando Valley/West Los Angeles Division this season, winning 53 out of 54 matches.

McGary attends PS1, Frankel goes to Wildwood School, Levi goes to Corpus Christi and Lai, Catanzaro and MacDonald all attend Franklin Elementary. Nine-year-old Sam Lazenby was the alternate this year.

Sectionals pitted the Waves against the best teams from Orange County, San Diego, San Gabriel Valley, Inland Empire, Ventura, Coachella Valley and Santa Barbara.