The Claremont girls tennis team ended the regular season with a 12.5-5.5 win against St. Lucy’s on Tuesday, and is primed to make a deep run in the postseason. 

The Wolfpack are currently competing at the Sierra League prelims, and have chosen to send six athletes to compete against the league’s best.

Claremont will be sending junior Megan Huang and freshman Evelyn Kennedy as singles players, while junior Hailey Kayatta, sophomore Nikki Rival  and sophomores Katie Chen and Dorothy Kang will compete in doubles play.

Head coach Lilibeth Katigbak is proud of the way her team has progressed in attitude and teamwork since they first set foot on the court. It has really helped them reach their goal of making a playoff run.

“I’ve definitely seen improvement and growth in the level of sportsmanship and love of the collective team since the beginning of the season,” coach Katigbak said. “Each player makes an effort to come out to practice to play hard and have fun.”

Water polo team continues strong play

Pending yesterday’s results against Damien, the Claremont boys water polo team sits at 14-5 and is in good shape going into the home stretch of the regular season. The Wolfpack have an important tournament on Saturday and Sunday and two league matches against Chino Hills and Charter Oak before they gear up for CIF in two weeks. In its latest contest on Oct. 24, Claremont defeated Ayala 15-5 to earn its conference-best fourth Sierra League victory of the season.

Volleyball team hopes to gain momentum

Pending Thursday’s match against Chino Hills, Claremont was at 4-4 in the Sierra League and trailed only St. Lucy’s and Chino Hills in the standings. On Oct. 25, the Wolfpack came out focused and on their game, sweeping South Hills on the road, 3-0. Claremont edged South Hills 25-23 in sets one and two, and won comfortably in set three, 25-17. With the regular season finale against Charter Oak looming, Claremont will look to gain momentum against the struggling Chargers heading into the postseason.

Wolfpack football fails to hold off Damien in close loss

Rivalry games tend to bring out the best in both teams, and Claremont’s game against league rival Damien on Friday night can attest to that. The Wolfpack (1-7, 0-3) lost a heartbreaker 28-27 to the Spartans, in a back-and-forth battle between two teams fighting to gain ground in the Sierra League.

Senior quarterback Craig Myers threw for 267 yards and four touchdowns, but it was not enough to lift the Wolfpack to their second league victory of the season. Myers finished 18 of 22 and failed to turnover the ball, finishing the game with an impressive quarterback rating of 160.

Damien led 13-0 after the first quarter, but Claremont answered back in the second with 14 unanswered points to go up one heading into the half. The Wolfpack defense carried its strong performance from the first half over to the second, and held the Spartans to just three points in the third quarter.  Claremont tacked on seven more in the third quarter on Myers’ third touchdown of the night, and clung to a 21-16 lead over Damien heading into the fourth.

Neither team was able to maintain a lead for longer than 15 minutes, and that trend continued into the fourth quarter, with Damien outscoring Claremont 12-6. The Spartans gained solid contributions from senior quarterback Brendan Callen and sophomore running back Dylan Thigpen en route to a 28-27 win, their fourth victory, and second league victory, of the year.

Senior running back Cecil Flemming continued to show why he is one of the best workhorse running backs in southern California. His 113-yard rushing performance gives him 1,117 rushing yards to go along with 10 touchdowns this season. Flemming is averaging 159.6 yards per game and 7.6 yards per rush this season.

Myers’ main target for the night was senior wide receiver Baron Franklin, who hauled in seven catches for 119 yards and two scores. Seniors Addison Whitman and Brandon Burnham each had one receiving touchdown.

With two games remaining, Claremont will need to win out if they plan on avoiding finishing amongst the bottom of the Sierra League.

The Wolfpack will travel to Chino Hills today to take on the Huskies at 7 p.m.

Golfers unable to qualify for CIF finals

Claremont sent two golfers, Kennedy Bingham and Nicole Curti, to compete at the CIF Individual Regionals at Mile Square Golf Course in Fountain Valley on Monday. Both Bingham and Curti played well in rough conditions, but they did not make the cut to advance to the CIF Finals.

“I am proud of the girls for battling tough weather conditions and playing their best against the best in our CIF region,” head coach Octavio Hernandez said.

With the cut line being +4 (76), Bingham shot an 81 and Curti shot an encouraging 87.

“Kennedy played her best round in CIF. Nicole showed that she has great potential for future years with an 87,” coach Hernandez said.

Claremont did not advance to the team regional this year.

Cross Country         

A result was not obtained nor was the coach available for comment.

—Bryan Stauffer

sports@claremont-courier.com