Taft Wins City Title in Doubles

The second-seeded team of Stephanie Fontaine and Pam Klosterman of Taft High defeated the top-seeded team of Karly Lemen and Yael Allswang of Palisades, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, Thursday to win the City Section doubles championship at The Racquet Centre in Universal City.

Fontaine and Klosterman (20-2 overall) had beaten Lemen and Allswang, 7-6, 7-5, in the 3-A Division team championship last month, the lone setback for Palisades in a 6-1 victory.

It appeared as if the Palisades pair would gain a measure of revenge for that earlier loss after winning the first set. Lemen and Allswang broke the Taft team twice in the initial set while holding serve themselves.

“In the first set, I am always nervous and I have problems with my serve,” said Fontaine, a junior. “I get away from the fundamentals. I had to tell myself to relax and then everything was OK.”

Although they struggled with their serves, Fontaine and Klosterman excelled at the net. Palisades Coach Bud Kling said that the net play compensated for Taft’s serving problems.

“They were aggressive,” Kling said. “They charged the net often, putting on a lot pressure. You can’t be passive against them. They were really aggressive from the second set on. If you keep putting pressure on, teams will eventually falter, which is what happened.”

Lemen and Allswang fell behind, 4-2, in the second set but fought back to forge a tie, 4-4, pushing Klosterman and Fontaine to the edge of elimination. But the Taft pair took control of the match by winning the next six games.

“For us, the key moment was winning the first game of the third set,” said Klosterman, a senior. “That was a very tough, contested game. . . . We felt before the set started that winning the first game could determine the set.”

In the consolation doubles match, Mhalo Pena and Rachel Freed of Grant lost to another team from Palisades, Alice Bou and Courtney Leonard, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5). Birdie Gessford defeated Palisades teammate Torrey Miller, 6-2, 6-4, to win the singles title.