Sports
Venice High Tennis Wins City Playoff Opener
The Gondos beat Verdugo Hills 19-9 1/2 in the first round of the Division II bracket.
The boys tennis team started fast and finished strong in its playoff opener Wednesday afternoon on campus.
The home-court advantage seemed to spark the Gondoliers, who won the first six and a half points in the race to 15 and ended up defeating 10th-seeded Verdugo Hills by a comfortable 19 to 9 1/2 margin in the first round of the draw.
Unlike the regular season, when a straight-up, best-of-seven format is used, playoff matches employ round robin scoring, in which a total of 29 1/2 points are available, one point scored for each of 16 singles sets and 1 1/2 awarded for each of 12 doubles sets.
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The seventh-seeded Gondoliers will travel to rival in the quarterfinals Friday at 1 p.m. The second-seeded Yankees routed Franklin, 21 to 8 1/2, in the first round.
The winner of Friday's match will take on either Western League rival and third-seeded or No. 11 Franklin, which upset No. 6 Birmingham in the first round. Should Venice and LACES win, the Gondoliers would be the lower seed and thus have to travel to LACES. If Venice and Franklin win, the Gondoliers would host the Panthers.
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On the opposite half of the draw, No. 13 fell to No. 4 Granada Hills Kennedy, 18 1/2 to 11, and top-seeded Sun Valley Poly racked up 19 points on its way to routing Wilson.
The City Division II final is Friday, May 13, at in Encino.
In the draw, top-seeded had a bye in the first round and will host No. 8 North Hollywood in the quarterfinals Friday.
