Pali High Tennis Clinches League Title

Three seniors played their last regular season home match Wednesday against Hamilton and, fittingly, all three posted resounding victories as girls tennis team claimed its second straight Western League championship and third in four years under Coach Sean Passan with a 7-0 triumph at the

Neither the gloomy weather nor the shorthanded Yankees could dampen the Dolphins' spirits on Senior Day, as they needed less than 60 minutes to accumulate the four points required for victory in the best-of-seven format.

Senior Jessie Corneli was looking forward to a showdown with Hamilton's Abby Esrock at No. 1 singles, but the Yankees' top player was on the East Coast on a tennis recruiting trip and missed Wednesday's match, as did No. 2 player Sharone Yiffi.

So Corneli settled for an 8-0 victory over Hamilton's Kate Corry-Saavedra, who had played No. 3 singles in the last match between the teams.

"I was surprised when I got here and didn't see Abby," Corneli said. "I didn't know who I was playing but I tried to play really well anyway and put my best foot forward. It's less of a huge deal since there are only three of us [seniors] instead of like a big group."

Co-captain Emily Wettleson, also a senior, played at No. 1 doubles with her regular partner Melody Wilkenfeld and the duo won easily, 8-1, after sitting out the first Hamilton match.

Playing No. 3 singles Wednesday was the Dolphins' other senior co-captain Perri Zaret, who has racked up win after win at No. 1 doubles this season with sophomore Julie Takakjian. Zaret was a singles player prior to this year, however, and showed that she has not lost that acumen by finishing off her 8-0 victory with a volley winner.

"Tennis has been the best part of high school for me, we're like a close family," said Zaret, who is good friends with both of her senior teammates. "It's sad that it's coming to an end but I'm glad that I got to play singles on Senior Day and we all feel like this is our year to win City."

As they had in the previous match against Venice, Zaret and Corneli teamed up for a practice doubles set after the outcome was decided and, as they had the first time, they cruised to any easy win.

"It was great to see them having fun out there because they've done so much for the team for four years," Passan said.

Ninth-grader Katie Scholl, who teamed with Ann Tanaka to play varsity doubles earlier in the season against University, made the most of her first opportunity at varsity singles, winning a baseline duel with Hamilton's Kira McKinley at the No. 4 spot.

"It really helped having some of my teammates watching," said Scholl, who took the pro set 8-5. "I like having that support and hearing them yell 'Nice shot!'"

Freshman Brooke Cullen didn't quite know what to expect going into her first varsity match at No. 3 doubles with junior Shadi Hedayati, but the pair had no trouble with Hamilton sisters Sejal and Janki Patel.

"Playing varsity is harder but it's also fun," said Cullen, whose older sister Kathryn won three straight City tennis titles at Palisades (2005-07) and whose older brother John swam for the Dolphins and was a City champion in the 100 backstroke as a senior in 2010.

Both Palisades players attended Paul Revere Middle School and they combined Cullen's aggressive net play with Hedayati's steady groundstokes to win 8-0.  

"I thought it would be hard until we started warm-ups, then I saw they wouldn't be as hard as we thought," Hedayati added. "They were hitting it long and I'm good at telling if it's going in or out."

Palisades is two wins ahead of Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies with two matches remaining but even if the Dolphins were to lose both—a highly unlikely scenario—they hold the tiebreaker by virtue of having defeated the Unicorns 6-1 in both head-to-head meetings.

The Dolphins wrap up league play with road matches against Fairfax on Thursday and University on Friday.

MATCH SUMMARY

Palisades 7, Hamilton 0

SINGLES

(1) Jessie Corneli, Palisades, d. Kate Corry-Saavedra, 8-0.

(2) Julie Takakjian, Palisades, d. Eva Segura, 8-0.

(3) Perri Zaret, Palisades, d. Melina Melgoza, 8-0.

(4) Katie Scholl, Palisades, d. Kira McKinley, 8-5.

DOUBLES

(1) Emily Wettleson-Melody Wilkenfeld, Palisades, d. Danielle Sork-Hayley Moyal, 8-1.

(2) Annie Gingold-Lauren Sedmak, Palisades, d. Nicole Guillo-Divya Patel, 8-4.

(3) Brooke Cullen-Shadi Hedayati, Palisades, d. Janki Patel-Sejal Patel, 8-0.

Records: Hamilton 9-4, 7-4; Palisades 10-0-1, 9-0.

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