CITY TENNIS : Taft Loses Way, University Wins

Once Bryan Newell and his University High teammates found out that they would meet Palisades in the City 4-A Division tennis finals and not Woodland Hills Taft, their confidence soared.

During the season, University defeated Palisades twice but suffered its only defeat to Taft.

Taft had apparently beaten Palisades in the semifinals but had to forfeit the victory for using an ineligible player. University made the most of its third meeting against the Dolphins.

Behind Newell’s sweep at No. 1 singles, the Warriors defeated Palisades, 19-10 1/2, at the Racquet Centre for its fourth City title in the last seven years.

“We were a little nervous at first because we were playing in the finals,” Newell said. “But we were confident because we had played them twice before and had beat them twice.”

University, (15-1) which dominated Palisades (13-5) in winning eight of nine sets, had too much depth for the Dolphins. The senior-dominated Warriors were so deep that they could afford to match Sung Kim, who won the City individual title in 1990, with Dooro Park as their No. 3 doubles team.

“We have good players throughout the team and we know everyone who plays at Pali,” Kim said. “We knew that we’d beat them so this was expected.”

In the 3-A Division final, Marshall ended Eagle Rock’s dream of an undefeated season, 20 1/2-5.

Behind sweeps by Arthur Tombakian at No. 1 singles and Diego Albelais and Alex Lee at No. 1 doubles, Marshall (14-1) won its second consecutive City title.

“We came on the court like winners and played like it,” Albelais said. “We wanted to win and get some T-shirts that say ‘Back to Back’ on them.”

Marshall jumped ahead of Eagle Rock (17-1) early and never let up.