Dolphins Advance at City Tennis Tourney

Depth is what brought the girls tennis team to the brink of the L.A. City Section championship. So far that depth has served the Dolphins just fine in the Individual singles and doubles tournaments too, as all three singles players and two of their three doubles teams survived the first week of play at in Encino.

The only Dolphins having to play a first-round match Tuesday were senior Emily Wettleson and junior Melody Wilkenfeld, who were not one of the eight seeds in the 24-team doubles draw. Getting less than 24 hours to recuperate from a bitter loss to Granada Hills in the dual finals, the two were back for Individuals and, as luck would have it, theirs was the last match to start.

"I was fine with it," Wilkenfeld said about having to play on back-to-back days. "Mentally, I guess it was a good thing to get right back out there, but I didn't really care."

Coach Sean Passan kept track of time from the moment warm-ups began and calculated that it took Wettleson and Wilkenfeld about 16 minutes to take the first set off Genine Cumba and Manny Jacob of Monroe. That's nothing new for the Dolphins' No. 3 tandem, which won its eight-game pro set in just 14 minutes against Venice on Sept. 26.

"I was expecting a tougher match," Wettleson admitted following Tuesday's 6-1, 6-1 victory. "I knew nothing about the team we played. I don't even know where Monroe is."

Although she had a bye, senior Jessie Corneli was one of several Dolphins who came to support Wettleson and Wilkenfeld and she took the opportunity to analyze second-round opponent Nora Landes of Cleveland, who dropped one game to Nichole Kim of Van Nuys in her opening match.

Landes was dealt a 6-0, 6-0 loss at No. 1 singles by Palisades freshman Diana Silvers in the team semifinals and she fared only slightly better Thursday against the eighth-seeded Corneli, who used every stroke in her repertoire to post an impressive 6-2, 6-1 triumph.

"In the beginning I wasn't playing as well as I could've and I thought this might be one of those off days," said Corneli, who advanced to the third round for the third year in a row. "I was holding back, slicing my backhand, because I wasn't on my game yet, but when I'm ahead I get more aggressive because I'm closer to winning."

Whereas Silvers had overpowered Landes from the baseline, Corneli took a more patient approach, breaking her adversary down with a mixture of precision and pace. Demonstrating the fair play that earned her the tournament's Sportsmanship Award last year, Corneli even conceded a point in the second set after Landes called out the wrong score on her serve.

On Monday, Corneli takes on top-seeded Shayla Fulton of Dorsey for a spot in the semifinals.

"I always seem to get the worst draws ever," Corneli joked, adding she wished she had another crack at Granada Hills' Analyssa Tallas, who played singles for the team playoffs but is playing doubles for Individuals. "Yeah, I'd love to play her again."

Silvers, the No. 6 seed, won her second-round match against Eagle Rock's Sheri Jong, 6-2, 6-2. "It was hard for me to guess where the ball was going," Silvers said. "She hit with a lot of spin and was all over the place with her shots."

Next up for Silvers is a quarterfinal matchup against third-seeded Cassandra Fisbeck of Granada Hills, who took third place at last year's tournament. The winner will take on either Corneli or Fulton.

"I'm excited to play her," Silvers said of her match with Fisbeck. "The team playoffs are over, but this Individual tournament is important to me because it's worth USTA points and if I do well I could get a better seed next year so I want to go as far as I can." 

On the opposite half of the draw from her Palisades teammates is sophomore Katie Vincent, who is seeded seventh and took out Madison Varias of Verdugo Hills, 6-1, 6-0, in the second round. For the whole season she has played with pain in her shoulder and Thursday's match was no exception. 

"It's hurting and I forgot to bring an ice pack, but I'm going to the doctor as soon as this tournament is over," said Vincent, who lamented having to face No. 2-seeded Sarah Nuno of Granada Hills next. "This is a big deal for anyone and I've got a tough draw, but I have two more years to win after this."

Wettleson and Wilkenfeld won the first set of their second-round match 6-2 but lost the next two by 6-3 scores with Wettleson playing hurt. Passan was miffed that Meena Janerkrabuanhad and Fumika Kotobuki, the same Granada Hills team that lost to Palisades' Jesse Zand and Katie Pfannkuche at No. 2 doubles in the team finals, are not paired together for Individuals. Instead, Janerkrabuanhad's partner is Dianne Sarmiento, who played No. 1 doubles in the team finals.

"I'm not entirely convinced they've played enough matches together to qualify [for Individuals] and I've asked for their entire year's lineups," Passan said. "I found it interesting that our No. 3 doubles team (Wettleson and Wilkenfeld) lost to their No. 3 in the head-to-head format, yet could handle a combo of their No. 1 and No. 2 teams. Had Emily not sustained the hip injury I think they could've closed it out easily as they did in the first set."

Passan believes the tournament should be a reward for teams that have played together all season. Tallas and Samantha Nuno, for example, are the top-seeded doubles tandem even though each of them played singles throughout the team playoffs.

"I don't think that switching your lineup around and mixing abilities within a doubles team is an ethical coaching tactic, but I don't think it's an illegal one either," he said. "As long as all teams are placed in order of ability, the coach has that option."

Palisades' No. 1 duo of Perri Zaret and Julie Takakjian stayed undefeated this season with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Cleveland's Katherine Chavez and Vivian Huynh, the same tandem they had blanked 6-0, 6-0 in the team semifinals. Losing the team championship match only enhances Zaret's motivation to win the Individual title.

"It definitely does make us want this more," said Zaret, a senior co-captain. "We're out to win every game. The Granada Hills team is good and I'm a little scared for that, but that isn't until the finals."

Zaret and Takakjian have yet to be challenged this fall. In their 16 sets, they have won 106 of 113 games. On Thursday, Zaret's volleying at the net and Takakjian's steady groundstrokes along the baseline were too much for their opponents.

"They are pretty consistent, so we couldn't rely on them missing," Takakjian said. "Against this team we had to put more points away ourselves."

In the quarterfinals, Zaret and Takakjian will take on Bell's Zalena Rojas and Estefania Valois, who upset seventh-seeded Megan Gin and Deborah Chen of Eagle Rock in three sets Thursday.

In keeping with their flare for dramatics, sixth-seeded Zand and Pfannkuche found themselves in big trouble in the second set after quickly winning the first against Victoria Kellikidis and Danielle Nguyen of Chatsworth. Trailing 5-2, Zand called for line judges and Palisades' duo used the ensuing delay to regroup, reeling off the last five games to close out the match.

"We've started to get used to that situation," Pfannkuche said. "We're more confident we can pull it out in sets like that because we've done it before."

Zand and Pfannkuche will meet No. 4-seeded Melissa Garibay and Rebecca Rodriguez of Banning in the quarterfinals Monday. The Pilots' tandem needed three sets to defeat Denisha Selma and Bari Scott of Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies. Should the Dolphins' duo win it would likely meet Tallas and Nuno in the semifinals.

Below are the results from the second round of the :

SINGLES

(1) Shayla Fulton, Dorsey d. Berenice Meza, Bell, 6-0, 6-0

(8) Jessie Corneli, Palisades d. Nora Landes, Cleveland, 6-2, 6-1

(6) Diana Silvers, Palisades d. Sheri Jong, Eagle Rock, 6-2, 6-2

(4) Cassandra Fisbeck, Granada Hills d. Leslie Vasquez, South East, 6-4, 6-3

(3) Yvonne Likomanova, LACES d. Jessica Goldbeck, Taft, 6-1, 6-0

(5) Abby Esrock, Hamilton d. Nicole Kim, Eagle Rock, 6-1, 6-0

(7) Katie Vincent, Palisades d. Madison Varias, Verdugo Hills, 6-1, 6-0

(2) Sarah Nuno, Granada Hills d. Lilit Oganessian, Marshall, 6-1, 6-1

DOUBLES

(1) Analyssa Tallas-Samantha Nuno, Granada Hills d. Sarah Barambangan-Rosette Perez, Eagle Rock, 6-1, 6-0

(8) Kelsey Macapagal-Diana Shin, Van Nuys d. April Kim-Julia Nguyen, Cleveland, 6-2, 7-5

(6) Jesse Zand-Katie Pfannkuche, Palisades d. Victoria Kellikidis-Danielle Nguyen, Chatsworth, 6-1, 7-5

(4) Melissa Garibay-Rebecca Rodriguez, Banning d. Denisha Selma-Bari Scott, LACES, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2

(3) Michelle Nguyen-Angelica Ramos, Carson d. Cindy Nguyen-Catherine Olguin, Birmingham, 5-7, 6-1, 6-0

(5) Meena Janerkrabuanhad-Dianne Sarmiento, Granada Hills d. Emily Wettleson-Melody Wilkenfeld, Palisades, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3

Zalena Rojas-Estefania Valois, Bell d. (7) Megan Gin-Deborah Chen, Eagle Rock, 2-6, 6-0, 6-4

(2) Perri Zaret-Julie Takakjian, Palisades d. Vivian Huynh-Katherine Chavez, Cleveland, 6-0, 6-1

(Note: Quarterfinals are Monday at 1 p.m.; semifinals are Wednesday at 1 p.m.; finals and third-place matches are Friday at 1 p.m.)

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