The Claremont High School girls varsity tennis team continued their winning ways by defeating South Hills High School, 16-2, last Thursday in Claremont. The Pack’s number one doubles team, juniors Astrid Petropoulus and Emma Behrens, won all three of their matches without dropping a game. Number three doubles team, seniors Jillian Ontiveros and Grace Wride saved two match points to beat South Hills’ number 1 doubles team, 7-6 (6). Claremont’s number one singles player, freshman Goldie La improved her overall record to 13-0, with a win over the South Hills’ number one player.

The Pack returned to action on Tuesday with a home match against Bonita High School. The girls moved to 3-0 in league play with a 14-4 win over the Bearcats. Singles players, Elizabeth Wu, Jahday Drewery, Caren Uribe and La dominated by winning all 9 singles sets. Their overall record is now 4-2.

Volleyball team’s hard play gets mixed results

Claremont went 3-1 in pool play during the Ayala tournament last weekend, but lost in the finals, which were decided by a single set of play. Claremont beat Arcadia in the first set before losing to Martin Luther King.

The girls lost to Glendora 3-0 last Wednesday but played well, keeping each set within a handful of points. The loss was a disappointment, but Glendora is a very competitive team so Claremont had to play faster, which will make the Pack a better team, according to coach Angel Posada.

He also praised the efforts of Kylie Robinson, calling her a “natural all around athlete.”

“It’s nice having a player like her. She is like another coach on the court because of her knowledge of the game and she has the trust of her teammates,” Coach Posada said.

They played Bonita at home Wednesday night in another tough match, but unfortunately lost to the Bearcats, 3-1. Bonita took the first set, 25-22, but Claremont came back and got a decisive victory in the second set, 25-16. The third set was a real barnburner, resulting in a 28-26 Bearcat victory. Perhaps deflated by the tough loss in the third set, the Pack fell 25-12 in the final set.

The girls are now 1-2 in league and 5-4 overall, they have another league match against Ayala on Friday.

Busy week for boys water polo

Last Thursday the boys won their season opener, 5-4, in an away game against Glendora. The team took a lot of shots on goal, taking two or three attempts before connecting. Many of the missed shots were just poor luck, such as hitting the goal post or having a tipped shot recovered by Glendora, according to Coach Kristin Rodriguez.

Over the weekend they were in the Villa Park tournament, which meant the boys played a fatiguing seven games in one week. Coach Rodriguez is hopeful the pace will make them stronger as league gets into full swing.

On Wednesday they played Bonita, results will appear in the next edition of the COURIER.

Football loses on last minute score

The Pack lost a very close non-conference away game against Alta Loma, 33-31 last Friday. Claremont played well and led with less than a minute to go, but ultimately could not hold on to their lead.

Quarterback Reggie Retzlaff had 12 completions from 22 attempts for 200 yards, including nine carries for a total of 61 yards and two touchdowns.

Junior Elijah Bennett had three receptions for 84 yards and one touchdown. Senior Andrew Johnson had 26 carries for 88 yards and one touchdown.

The boys’ record is now 2-3 and they will play Glendora next Friday away in the Palomares League opener.

—Steven Felschundneff

steven@claremont-courier.com