TENNIS CITY SECTION 4-A DIVISION GIRLS’ FINAL : Pastorini, Taft Forced to Wait Until Next Season Once Again

Brahna Pastorini figures it is only a matter of time before Taft High beats Palisades in girls’ tennis.

Unfortunately, she will have to wait at least a year before she will get a chance to test that theory. That’s because Thursday the top-seeded Dolphins defeated Taft, 5-2, to win their eighth consecutive City Section title in the 4-A final at the Racquet Centre in Studio City.

The victory marked Palisades’ fourth win over Taft in a City final in as many years. Since 1975, Palisades has won 13 City titles.

Palisades Coach Bud Kling, who said he never before had altered his regular lineup for a final, moved No. 2 singles player Karen Manson to doubles Thursday to get a better match-up with Taft (12-3).

“It caught us off-guard,” said Pastorini, the daughter of former NFL quarterback Dan Pastorini. “But everyone is beatable and somebody is going to beat them sooner or later. We will have as good a shot as anybody next year.”

Pastorini, a sophomore, defeated Sirsa Shekim, the top-ranked singles player in the City, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, despite playing the final two sets with a hamstring injury.

The doubles team of Natasha Wadiaeff and Tracey Hockenberg accounted for the other Taft victory, beating Amber Wuchitech and Ashley Byock, 6-1, 6-2.

However, Taft’s chances of knocking off Palisades (16-3) suffered a big blow when the doubles team of Stephanie Fontaine and Carrie Greenberg, the top-ranked team in the City, lost for the first time this season, falling to Manson and Gina Won, 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.

“That was the difference,” Taft Coach Marvin Jones said. “It was frustrating but this was the closest that we’ve come to beating them the past four years.”

Palisades’ Heather Zand, Bentleigh Borgesen and Melissa Cherin swept the other singles matches in straight sets over Kimberly Shapiro (6-4, 6-4), Alicia Whelan (7-5, 6-2) and Krista Ramyead (6-4, 6-4).