Venice Tennis Is Work in Progress

Five matches into the 2011 season the Venice High girls tennis team is still searching for its first win but Coach Mike Finegold has maintained a positive outlook.

"We lost all four of our singles players, our No. 1 doubles team and two JV players from last year," said Finegold, now in his 15th year. "We've also had two ineligibilities, one girl changed schools, another one got injured and three more are playing hurt right now. But I like my team and this is the nicest group of girls I've had yet, which says something because they've all been nice."

Venice took on archrival Palisades in the first of two Western League meetings Monday at the Palisades Recreation Center and it was hardly a surprise that the Dolphins won 7-0. They have won 20 City Section titles and are one of the favorites to win the championship this year.

"Pali is always one of the best in the City," Finegold said. "I measure our success on how well we play. If we play poorly and win I'll be less pleased than if we play well and lose. Against a team like this the goal is to be competitive in one or two of the matches."

Venice was competitive in one of the seven pro sets. Gondos freshman Jennifer Chew gave Palisades senior Jessie Corneli all she could handle at No. 1 singles before falling, 8-6. Venice won only two other games--junior Patricia Evangelista and senior Alexis Lucas losing 8-1 at No. 1 doubles and freshman Chelsea Robinson taking a game off Palisades' Katie Pfannkuche at No. 3 singles.

"I was real proud of Jennifer and her record is similar to the team's record in that she's player her opponents really close but hasn't had the wins to show for it," said Finegold, who will take over the boys program in the spring from Randy Chew, Jennifer's father. "She beat Carson's No. 1 girl 8-5 in our first match, she lost 8-7 in a tiebreaker to Cleveland's No. 1 and she lost 8-6 to Westchester and again today, so she's been right there."

Venice (0-5, 0-3) lost to Carson 4-3 and Cleveland 7-0 in nonleague matches. In league play the Gondos have fallen to Hamilton 4-3, Westchester 5-2 and Palisades (7-0). Finegold, an economics teacher who has announced Venice High football games for the last 20 years, likes the balance in the Western League.

"You have Pali and LACES at the top, Hamilton, Westchester and Venice in the middle and Fairfax and University at the bottom," he said. "To get third, we have to beat Hamilton and Westchester the second time around, which I think we can do because there were a lot of really close sets in both of those matches. We're a young team, so I'm hoping we'll keep improving as the season goes along."

Against Palisades, sophomore Andie Ritter played No. 2 singles and Kelsie Yahata played No. 4 singles. Nancy Phuongthang and Kajal Suriya played No. 2 doubles and fellow juniors Sindy Ayala and Jayleen Yen played in the No. 3 spot.

Girls Volleyball

In its first match of the season against archrival Palisades the Venice High girls volleyball team got swept 25-10, 25-8, 25-19 on Monday. The Gondos beat Palisades twice on their way to winning the Western League title last year, but the Dolphins upset Venice in the semifinals of the City Section Division II playoffs and swept Poly in the finals.

"The focus right now is on our side of the court," Venice Coach Allen Hunt said. "We're a little younger and ball control is a problem. We have a new setter so we're trying to improve our serve reception and the speed of our sets."

The Gondos' senior captains are three-year starting outside hitter Molly Lieske and middle blocker/outside hitter Jeanette Shekelle.

"We have to keep improving, but I think second in league is definitely possible," Hunt said. "I'd like to see us finish runner-up and get a top four seed in the playoffs."