Thornton Is Top Seed in City Individual Tennis Draw

Having just won its third consecutive City Section team championship, it's no surprise that the qualified 13 players for the Individual Tournament, which starts Tuesday at Balboa Sports Center in Encino.

is the No. 1 seed and has a bye in the first round. The Dolphins senior will play either Anthony Ya of Carson or LeAndrew Childs of Westchester in the second round Thursday at noon. 

Also in the top half of the draw is Palihi's , the No. 5 seed, who also has a first-round bye and will play William Kernkamp of Verdugo Hills or Colby White of Gardena in the second round.

If seedings hold, Silvers would face No. 4 seed William Chung of Granada Hills in the quarterfinals, with the winner meeting Thornton in the semifinals.

In the bottom half of the draw is Dolphins senior , who is seeded No. 3 and also has a first-round bye. He will play either Mauricio Rosales of Grant or Muzamill Waheed of Cleveland in the second round. Licona could potentially face No. 2-seeded Richard Catabona of Van Nuys in the semifinals.

Thornton suffered an ankle injury in his 6-4, 6-3 loss to Catabona in the semifinals last season while Licona lost 6-0, 6-3 in the same round to eventual champion Ace Matias of Narbonne. That set up an all-Palihi third-place match between Licona and Thornton, which Licona won by injury default.

Quarterfinals are May 24 at 1 p.m., semifinals are May 26 at 1 p.m. and the singles final and third-place matches are June 1 at 1 p.m. at Balboa Tennis Center.

Palihi also qualified five teams for the Individual Doubles, led by top-seeded and , who have a first-round bye and will face either Miguel Pila and Daniel Gomez of Banning or Dustin Nguyen and Leonard Kee of Van Nuys in the second round at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

Also in the top half of the draw is the Dolphins duo of and , who will play a Sun Valley Poly pair in the first round, with the winning team advancing to a second-round match against fourth-seeded Harris Choe and Roger Carnow of Granada Hills.

Palihi has three teams in the bottom half of the draw, including No. 2-seeded and , who have a first-round bye and will meet either Mark Dayo and Christian Flores of Eagle Rock or a team from Bell in the second round at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

Seeded No. 7 is the Dolphins tandem of and , who also have a first-round bye and are set to take on either a Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies pair or Christian Chuacuco and Bon Jovi Valarao of Carson in the second round. 

Palihi's and will play a duo from Huntington Park in the first round at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, with the winning team advancing to play No. 3-seeded William Thi and Aaron Alcaraz in the second round.

Last year, Palihi's senior duo of and won the doubles title, 6-3, 6-1, over Anthony La and Joseph Cho of Narbonne.

Quarterfinals are May 24 at 1 p.m., semifinals are May 26 at 1 p.m. and the doubles final and third-place matches are June 1 at 1 p.m. at Balboa Tennis Center.

Palisades last swept the team, singles and doubles championships in 1999, when the Dolphins beat Granada Hills in the team final, Ricky Rollins won the singles title and Peter Shirley paired with Blake Baumgarten to win the doubles crown.