Boys’ tennis: Palisades crushes Granada Hills in City finals

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The only drama at Thursday’s City Section tennis championships was whether or not Palisades would be the first team to shut out its opponent in the finals since the round robin format was implemented in the 1980s.

However, the top-seeded Dolphins lost two of their last three doubles sets and settled for a 26 1/2 to 3 victory over Granada Hills at Balboa Sports Center in Encino. It was still one of the most lopsided wins ever in a title match.

‘I can’t remember one that was more one-sided,’ said Bud Kling, who has coached Palisades to 31 City titles (17 with the boys, 13 with the girls). ‘I’m a little surprised because I think Granada Hills is a better team overall than Tafteven though they wound up with fewer points.’

After blanking Marshall29 1/2 to zero in the quarterfinals, Palisades allowed 4 1/2 points to defending champion Taft in Tuesday’s semifinals. Third-seeded Granada Hills, meanwhile, had needed maximum effort to edge #2 Eagle Rock 15 to 14 1/2 and simply had nothing left for the finals.

‘We were the favorites all year so this is a relief more than anything else,’ Kling added. ‘There’s a reason there’s a word called ‘upset’ in the dictionary.’

Kling need not have worried. Palisades (23-3) raced to a 21-0 lead, clinching the championship with Justin Atlan’s 6-1 singles victory over Steven Inouye that gave the Dolphins their 15th point. Atlan, Oliver Thornton, Max Licona and Kyung Choi each swept four singles sets for a total of 16 points.

‘I knew we were close to clinching and I could tell by the applause that my match meant something,’ Atlan said of his victory over Inouye. ‘I’m a senior so I was telling everyone how important it was not to be overconfident. Let’s just take care of business, go home and watch the Lakers.’

It was a bitter pill for the Highlanders (13-3), who lost for the ninth time in nine finals appearances over the last 14 years. They averted the shutout when top tandem Roger Carnow and Aaron Goodwein beat Spencer Lewin and Spencer Pekar, 6-2, then picked up another 1 1/2 points when their #3 duo of Aaron Kim and Rondie Latham upset Palisades’ #1 team of Brandon Clark and Jeremy Shore, 7-5.

In the Invitational finals, #2 Franklin upset top-seeded Sherman Oaks CES, 15 to 14 1/2.

-- Steve Galluzzo