PREP TENNIS CITY FINALS : Palisades Girls Beat Taft for Title

Despite the loss of eight players from last year’s City championship team, Palisades High defeated third-seeded Woodland Hills Taft, 5-2, to win its eighth consecutive girls’ tennis title Thursday in the 4-A finals at the Racquet Centre in Studio City.

“The Palisades mystique is negated when you lose all the players,” said eighth-year Palisades Coach Bud Kling about his top-seeded Dolphins, who have won 13 City titles since 1975. “Winning (this year) was much more rewarding because of the obstacles we had to overcome. This team will always stick out a little more in my memory than the other years.”

Taft’s Brahna Pastorini defeated Sirsa Shekim, the top-ranked singles player in the City, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.

But Heather Zand, Bentleigh Borgesen and Melissa Cherin swept the other singles matches, and the doubles teams of Karen Manson-Nancy Kwon and Torri Ellman-Gina Won also won to wrap up the championship for Palisades.

In the 3-A final, Eagle Rock won its first title since 1986, sweeping the three doubles matches en route to a 5-2 victory over Marshall.