Boys’ tennis: Final exam for Taft is to solve another Palisades puzzle

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Taft will be facing a familiar opponent when it tries to defend its City Section championship against Palisades on Friday in a noon showdown at Balboa Sports Complex in Encino. And once again, the pressure is on Toreadors’ Coach Tom Wright to come up with a winning formula.

The teams have met in the playoffs three straight times. Palisades beat Taft in the semifinals in 2005 and 2006 and went on to win the title both times. Last year, the Toreadors turned the tables with a 21-8 1/2 upset when, in a surprise move, Wright dropped his best player, Josh Tchan, into doubles.

Both Wright and Palisades Coach Bud Kling claim their teams are better than they were last spring. One thing is certain -- these are without question the two premier programs in the section, as evidenced by their embarrassingly easy semifinal wins Monday. Top-seeded Taft clobbered Van Nuys, 20-4 1/2, in a match that was halted prematurely and No. 2 Palisades took care of Eagle Rock, 22 1/2-7.

Wright may need to press all the right buttons again for Taft to repeat. Palisades fields one of its deepest teams in years so the challenge for Wright is to figure out the lineup that’ll give the Toreadors their best chance to earn the 15 points needed for victory in round-robin scoring. The rest is up to his players.

-- Steve Galluzzo