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Falcons top Pride on the tennis court
pitman tennis
Number one singles player, Sahemi Castorena of Pitman, barely gets a hold of a ball during her loss in Thursdays home bout. - photo by EDDIE RUIZ/The Journal

Pitman High’s girls’ tennis team fell, 3-6, to Central California Conference foe Atwater for the first time in Doug Reimers stint as the head coach.

The lady Pride were having a tough time trying to find ways to defeat the Falcons, and they only came away with two wins in the singles column and a lone victory in the doubles.

“We always have played Atwater very close. When we have lost to them, they have beaten us by one or when we have gotten lucky and fortunate enough to win we have beaten them by only one,” Reimers said. “So we have never played them and seen a blow out on either side since I have been a coach.”

In a long and warm afternoon, every match ended in straight sets.

Unfortunately Pitman’s number one and two singles players Sahemi Castorena and Macey Loomis fell in straight sets.

Castorena dropped her match 3-6 and 0-6 while Loomis lost 4-6 and 3-6.

 “It has always been a close match when we play Atwater and this is definitely the strongest I have ever seen Atwater, their girls should be commended because they played really well,” said Reimers. “Atwater deserves all the credit in the world, they were fantastic.”

Fortunately for Reimers, senior Barbara Beasley and junior Yen Luu won their matches in the singles bracket in rather convincing fashion.

Beasley toppled Alexie Ponce of Atwater 6-1 and 6-3 and Luu defeated JoAnne Villagrana 6-1 and 6-2.

“Barbara was amazing today. She was very focused and brought a fantastic game to the court,” Reimers said about the senior.

Luu was able to win with ease after recently making the move to the singles side.

“Yen was hitting strong strokes and being very consistent, very capable against a tough Atwater opponent,” said Reimers.

After barely edging out Golden Valley early in the week, 5-4, the Pride fell to a 1-1 record in the CCC after their loss to the Falcons.

“Everyone in the CCC plays really tough,” Reimers said. “It always seems to be equal. We never have a team in our league that is a push over. We must bring our best game every time because if we don’t then all teams are so well coached and they always improve, never an easy match in league.

“I am not disappointed with my girls, they fought and played hard. I am disappointed in myself for not preparing my girls well enough and I need to work harder to help them have more fun on the court and also success.”

Pitman will host Buhach Colony next week with the game scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday.