Taft Loses Its Grip on Title : Girls’ 4-A tennis: Feldman extends streak to 47 but Palisades ends Toreadors’ two-year reign.

STUDIO CITY —  The stream of excited Taft High fans was coming down to center court to congratulate No. 1 singles player Julia Feldman, who had just defeated Lindsay Alpert of Palisades, 6-2, 6-2, to extend her three-year unbeaten string in team competition to 47-0.

But before Feldman could get off the court for the flurry of hugs and kisses, an explosion of screams and cheers occurred two courts down.

Palisades players rushed onto the court to mob Carolyn Lee, who had just defeated Taft’s Alicia Whelan, 7-5, 6-0, to clinch the City Section 4-A Division team championship at The Racquet Centre.

The Dolphins routed the two-time defending champion Toreadors, 6-1. Feldman, the Valley’s best player and the section’s No. 2-seeded player in the upcoming individual tournament, made dazzling shots in earning Taft’s only point.

But Taft (15-1) was hoping for more. Coach Marvin Jones split up his undefeated No. 1 doubles team of Whelan and Ravid Levy (12-0) to beef up the singles. Jones was hoping to sweep the four singles matches or win at least three and steal a victory in one of three doubles matches. It didn’t work.

Shana Miller, at No. 2 singles, handed Levy (30-1) the first loss of her varsity career, 0-6, 6-0, 6-4. Whelan suffered the clinching defeat, and Marissa Parker was handled by Brenda Moore at No. 4 singles, 6-1, 6-1. As far as stealing a victory in doubles, Taft’s closest match was a 6-4, 6-3 setback by Jodi Cohen and G-Won Shin to Alison Fischer and Christin Cho.

“I thought we had a real good chance to sweep the doubles when (Jones) moved Whelan and Levy to singles,” said Palisades Coach Bud Kling, whose Dolphins (14-1) had beaten Taft for the title seven years in a row before the Toreadors broke through in 1992. “But I also thought we would have won two, three and four singles, regardless.”

The only Taft player who wouldn’t be beaten, Kling figured, would be Feldman, who attacked Alpert with powerful ground strokes and athletic shots at the net. “I didn’t have a very good day, but, within high school, nobody serves and volleys like this,” Alpert said. “I’m just glad we won.”

Feldman, who said Alpert (10-2) was her toughest opponent of the season, was reluctant to give herself credit. “My net game was off and on,” she said. “But when it was on, I thought it was pretty good. I surprised myself a couple times.”

In the 3-A final, Carson’s 5-2 victory over Eagle Rock was clinched when its No. 1 doubles team of Jessica Quileza and Christina Banania hung on for a 6-0, 6-7 (7-5), 6-3 victory over Jenny Gonzales and Alice Shen.