Palisades, Gardena Repeat in City Tennis Finals

One dynasty continued and another appeared to be building in the City high school girls’ tennis finals Tuesday at the Racquet Centre.

The full-fledged dynasty belongs to Palisades, which won its fifth 4-A title in seven years with a 6-1 rout of Grant. The fledgling dynasty belongs to Gardena, which won its second straight 3-A title with a 5-2 victory over Hamilton.

The 4-A match was an old story for Palisades. Its opponent, Grant, radically shuffled its lineup in an attempt to upset the heavily favored Dolphins. In this case, Grant Coach Melva Heinsohn used her Nos. 2, 3, and 4 singles players in doubles, hoping to sweep there.

“I figured the only way we could win at all was if we moved some of our singles to doubles,” Heinsohn said. “We took a shot. There’s not much else we could have done.”

Granada Hills tried the same strategy against Palisades in 1982 and 1983, and each time it worked as Granada Hills won consecutive titles. For it to have succeeded this time, Grant needed not only to sweep the doubles, but No. 1 singles player Rowena Montenegro would have had to upset Anya Kochoff, Palisades’ top player who has lost only two sets all year.

Kochoff won, 6-0, 6-0. On top of that, Grant could win only one doubles match.

“I can understand why she did it,” Palisades Coach Bud Kling said. “If they hadn’t changed their lineup, we probably would have beaten them down the line (won every match).”

Kling, who also coaches the defending 4-A champion Palisades’ boys team, finished 11-0 in his first season as girls’ coach. Grant finished 15-1.

In the 3-A match, Gardena won in a runaway, a change from last year when the Mohicans’ edged Carson in a thriller, 4-3. Both coaches agreed that the difference was Gardena’s experience.

“The experience of being in the final (last year) showed,” Gardena Coach Jack Metalsky said.

Hamilton Coach Mel Lewis said: “They were City champs last year--it showed. We were coming up against a good senior team.”

Gardena finished 12-1, and Hamilton suffered its first loss of the season after 13 victories.