GIRLS' CITY SECTION TENNIS: NO CHARM HERE: TAFT FALLS IN FINAL PALISADES RALLIES FOR CITY CHAMPIONSHIP.

Byline: ERIK BOAL Special to the Daily News

Getting three victories was the easy part.

Beating Palisades of Pacific Palisades for a third time in the City Section girls' tennis final proved too difficult a task for Taft of Woodland Hills.

The Toreadors won three of the first four matches Friday at Balboa Sports Complex in Encino, but the top-seeded Dolphins rallied for a 4-3 victory to secure their second straight championship and City record 19th overall title.

``Of course it's really hard,'' said Betsy Urman, Taft's lone senior starter, who helped the No. 3 Toreadors reach their first City final since 1994. ``We gave it a good run, but we lost by one. But looking back from where we started, we accomplished a lot.''

Palisades (18-2), which improved to 8-2 all-time in finals against Taft (13-3) in the City's most prestigious rivalry, had to overcome the loss of No.2 singles player Krystal Hansard, who was declared academically ineligible earlier this week.

Hansard's absence forced Palisades coach Bud Kling to move Yasamin Ghiasi and Marina Sterngold into the singles lineup and Kathryn Cullen in doubles with Erika Lee.

``I was going back and forth thinking about different combinations all week, but I didn't make my lineup until halfway through (Thursday's) practice,'' Kling said. ``I just told the girls to give it your all and if Taft wins, they deserve it. We're not going to make excuses.''

Rebecca Mesropyan, Amanda Spencer and Yuliya Maystruk all recorded straight- set victories to give Taft its three singles wins, but Palisades' strength in doubles wound up being the deciding factor.

Alex Kling/Rose Schlaff and Audrey Ashraf/Lauren Pugatch won the Dolphins' last two matches to post the narrowest margin of victory in the teams' 10 finals meetings.

``When we had the 3-1 lead, those were the ones we were supposed to win,'' Taft coach Tom Wright said. ``The ones that were in the balance didn't go that well.''

Taft junior Sarah Cohen suffered a 6-2, 6-0 setback to last year's section runner-up Katy Nikolova in a battle of the top two seeds in the upcoming City tournament.

``We had to go for Katy and win the doubles,'' Kling said. ``That's a lot of pressure on the kids, knowing they need to win four matches.''

Urman and Jordan Hutkin tried to extend their match against Ashraf and Pugatch as long as possible, before the Palisades tandem secured the title with a 6-4, 6-3 win.

``I told Jordan `This could be the match we need to win,' '' Urman said. ``But she played amazing. I couldn't have asked for her to play any better. I'm very proud of the team.''

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Taft's Sarah Cohen returns a serve during the City Section girl's tennis championship match Friday.

Joel P. Lugavere/Special to the Daily News