Boys’ tennis: Higher seeds hold serve in first round of City playoffs

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One round down, three to go ... and not a single upset to write about. What’s a blogger to do?

Form held on Monday in the first round of the City Section Championship Division team playoffs, but barely. Fifth-seeded Carson escaped by the slimmest possible margin, 15-14 1/2, against Cleveland, the lowest seed in the 12-team bracket. No. 8 Venice beat No. 9 Chatsworth, 18-11 1/2, and No. 7 Marshall beat No. 10 El Camino Real by the same score. No. 6 Granada Hills was impressive in dispatching No. 11 Franklin, 25 1/2-4.

The top four teams -- Taft, Palisades, Eagle Rock and Van Nuys -- had byes in the first round.

Higher-seeded team will host quarterfinal matches on Wednesday at 1 p.m. Here are the matchups: Venice visits top-seeded Taft; Carson is at No. 4 Van Nuys; Granada Hills travels to No. 3 Eagle Rock and No. 7 Marshall visits No. 2 Palisades. Look for Taft and Palisades to win easily but the other two matches could be close, especially if Carson steps it up a notch and Granada Hills plays as well as it did Monday.

Click here to view the Championship Division bracket or here for the Invitational Division bracket.

-- Steve Galluzzo