Palisades' Thornton Is Top Seed in Tennis Individuals

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

Oliver Thornton 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 Joseph Silvers, 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 Max Licona, who is seeded No. 3 and also has a first-round bye. He will play either Nick Auranjo of Sylmar 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 Spencer Pekar and Sam Catanzaro, 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 Austin Gingold and Alex Nam, who will play a Sun Valley Poly duo 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 Trinity Thornton and Robert Silvers, 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 Cody Schiffer and Myles Rodgers-Halliday, who have a first-round bye and are set to take on either a duo from Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies or Christian Chuacuco and Bon Jovi Valarao of Carson in the second round. 

Palihi's Jae Moon Woo and Brendel Palumbo will play a Huntington Park duo 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 Kramer Waltke and Kyung Choi 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.

No University High players made the singles or doubles draws this year.