HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS / CITY CHAMPIONSHIPS : Taft Breaks Through for Title

Marvin Jones, the Taft High girls’ tennis coach, saw his team reach the City final the last four seasons, only to lose to Palisades. The Woodland Hills school also was beaten by Palisades for the championship in 1984.

But Jones and top-seeded Taft (16-0) turned the tables on Palisades Friday, spoiling the Dolphins’ bid for a ninth consecutive title in the 4-A Division championship at the Racquet Center in Studio City, 6-1.

“For five years, it’s been like playing a poker hand and I’ve always had the second-best hand,” the 10th-year coach said. “You stay in and you keep coming back to the finals and you come up short. Today, we finally had the best hand.”

Second-seeded Palisades (13-4), the 13-time champion, and Taft have combined to win 19 of 21 championships since 1972. But the Toreadors, who advanced to the final with 7-0 victories over University and Grant, left little doubt about who was best on Friday.

Taft swept the four singles matches, clinching its first championship in 15 seasons.

“After every match we talked about breaking (Palisades) streak,” said junior Julia Feldman, one of the singles winners.

Brahna Pastorini, another junior, defeated fourth-seeded Heather Zand, 6-2, 6-2, and Feldman was a 6-0, 6-1 winner over fifth-seeded Nancy Kwon. Pastorini and Feldman are the first and second-ranked players in next week’s 32-player individual singles’ tournament. Pastorini, Feldman and junior Kimberly Shapiro, Taft’s No. 3 singles player, all are undefeated.

In the 3-A final, Eagle Rock (10-1) edged Carson, 4-3, to win its second consecutive championship.

Amy Hsu and Mon Ta posted two-set singles victories, as did the doubles teams of Tammy Tam and Lynn Ta, and Mandy Fu and Lisa Han.