Pali Tennis Doubles Up Westchester

It wasn't quite as easy the second time around, but the girls tennis team defeated Westchester 6-1 Friday, moving one step closer to another crown.

The Comets had homecourt advantage for the rematch and put up a tougher fight than they did in a 7-0 loss one week earlier at the . In the end, Palisades again proved too tough—even while resting one of its top singles players (freshman Diana Silvers) along with its best doubles team (Perri Zaret and Julie Takakjian).

Westchester notched a point in singles and nearly stole one of the doubles points Friday, but Katie Pfannkuche and Jesse Zand ultimately prevailed 7-1 in a tiebreaker over the Comets' Kauai Taylor and Eryn Jones—the same tandem the Dolphins' duo had crushed 8-0 in the first round of league.

Taylor and Jones won as many games (seven) in Friday's pro set as their whole team had in the first match. However, Zand served an ace to finish off the tiebreaker and keep the Dolphins' doubles slate clean. Palisades has lost just four points in its seven league matches—all of them in singles.  

"We were getting real angry with the [line] calls," Pfannkuche said. "We weren't sure about the serves. They were calling them out the whole set and then in the tiebreaker they finally started calling them in and we won easily. A lot of it was us. We can't get so frustrated that it takes us off our game."

Zand and Pfannkuche won 8-5 at the No. 1 spot in Palisades' previous match at Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies and Pfannkuche likes being challenged by stronger competition.

"In the end, these situations only bring us closer," Pfannkuche said. "This team was lobbing us a lot and we stayed split up most of the time so we always had someone back. We've done that before and it seems to work better that way."

Zand, a freshman, prefers singles but has enjoyed playing doubles this season.

"We were trying to be generous on the calls out of courtesy since they're the home team, but it all worked out," she said. "Doubles is actually good training for singles. It's helping my volleys and my tactics and also recognizing certain patterns. I like having these matches where you're tested."

Sophomore Katie Vincent played No. 1 singles for the second straight match and won 8-3 against Comets junior Serina Rowland, who had fallen to Silvers 8-1 in the first round of league. Vincent hurt her shoulder serving in the fifth game but played through the impairment to score the Dolphins' first singles point.

"I had to slow down my serve and my strokes and just deal with the pain," Vincent said afterwards, applying an ice bag to the shoulder. "It's going to be just fine. She was hitting a lot of short balls, so I rallied with her until she missed or hit a short enough ball that I could put away."

Senior Jessie Corneli faced adversity of a different kind in her pro set at No. 2 singles, admitting she felt like she was "at a baseball game" after being heckled in between points—and sometimes in the middle of points—by students on the benches behind her who were rooting for the opponent, Tasha Saengo. It was not enough to rattle a player as experienced as Corneli, however, and she reeled off eight straight games to win 8-1.  

"I let it get to me at first because they were really loud and yelling right in my ear, but you learn to ignore it," Corneli said. "With her hitting style I thought I'd be more aggressive and put the pressure on her by coming in more. Also, the net was really high so shots that would normally clear it were hitting the tape. I noticed it the most on my serve."

A four-year varsity singles starter, Corneli had a rare day off in the Dolphins' previous contest against LACES, but she is looking forward to a rematch with Hamilton's Abby Esrock in the Dolphins' final league home match Wednesday. Corneli outlasted the Yankees' No. 1 player in a tiebreaker last fall.

"Sitting out was good and bad," Corneli said. "Bad because I didn't contribute, but good because I like seeing other players get opportunities. Playing Abby, it could be a good match. I may slow down the pace but I'll have to finish before her. The key is being the first person to finish the point."

The last player to finish Friday was freshman Izzy Guterson, who gave a gutsy effort despite falling to Westchester senior Lauren Culbertson 8-6 at the No. 3 singles spot. Guterson trailed 7-4 but roared back to take the next two games against her older adversary, who was determined to make amends for an 8-0 loss to Corneli seven days earlier.

MATCH SUMMARY

Palisades 6, Westchester 1

SINGLES

(1) Katie Vincent, Palisades, d. Serina Rowland, 8-3.

(2) Jessie Corneli, Palisades, d. Tasha Saengo, 8-1.

(3) Izzy Guterson, Palisades, lost to Lauren Culbertson, 8-6.

(4) Sara Freedland, Palisades, d. Nicole Wianecki, 8-1.

DOUBLES

(1) Jesse Zand-Katie Pfannkuche, Palisades, d. Kauai Taylor-Eryn Jones, 8-7 (1).

(2) Emily Wettleson-Melody Wilkenfeld, Palisades, d. Jacqueline Ross-Faline Chiang, 8-3.

(3) Caitlin Roshani-Alexandra Kugler, Palisades, d. Farhana Ali-Swiss Jantaranima, 8-6.

Records: Palisades 8-0-1, 7-0; Westchester 7-5, 6-4.

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