Arroyo Grande's boys tennis team spent about three hours chasing the 'Pack Saturday.

The Eagles caught Claremont Wolfpack players twice, coming from a service break down each time to win. The 'Pack, in doubles anyway, was too strong in the last round. Claremont prevailed 10-8 in a CIF Southern Section Division II match on Arroyo Grande's newly-finished courts. Claremont will likely face top-ranked San Marino in the quarterfinals next Tuesday.

Arroyo Grande wound up 16-4. Eagles coach Lori Hollister had no complaints afterward. “I'm very proud of the boys,” she said. “They played very well. They gave it their all. It was an exciting match.”

The Eagles finished second to San Luis Obispo in the PAC-7 League. The Wolfpack won the Baseline League at 10-0. Claremont coach Len Payne saw his short-handed team advance by winning all three last-round doubles sets.

“We did some switching today,” Payne said with a chuckle. “Some of our kids were taking AP tests. Another one had a family celebration to go to.”

Payne beefed up his doubles by teaming Torsten Keillong with Johnny Lee at number three doubles. Keillong lost to teammate Clarke Spinosa in the Baseline League singles tournament final.

Payne's move worked. Keillong and Lee swept their doubles sets - in fact, the Wolfpack won eight of the nine doubles sets. That was just enough to offset Dome's singles sweep, and Eagles Sam Rodgers' and Stefan Mirzaei's two wins each.

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Hollister, trying to counter the Wolfpack's move, put Dome, the four-time PAC-7 League champion, at number two on her singles ladder and Rodgers at No. 1. Every singles set except Dome's 7-5 win over Spinosa wound up 6-0 for one side or the other.

Not only was Keillong with a different player than usual, he had a different look than his teammates did. Keillong was wearing “our last year's uniform,” said Payne. The rest of the Wolfpack “just didn't dress that way today.” Keillong's teammates wore matching maroon-and-white outfits.

Dome rallied from 5-3 down to edge Spinosa 7-5. Teammates Nick Hollister (the coach's son) and Levi Daniel had rallied from a break down themselves to beat Trevor Jones and Andrew Lieu 7-6 (3) in a first-round tiebreaker.

Thus, with the set score 8-8, a boisterous crowd gathered around the Hollister-Daniel vs. Keillong-Lee set, figuring that would determine the match.

What the crowd didn't know was that Jones and Lieu were quietly putting the match away one court over. The pair defeated Evan Lange and Patrick Veal 6-2. Thus, with Hollister and Daniel leading 4-3, the Wolfpack already had an insurmountable 68-64 lead in games won. Keillong and Lee eventually rallied for a 7-5 win.

Dome is among Southern California's age group elite, but Spinosa nearly upset him. He led 5-3 and was nearing match point, but Dome held serve after the first deuce.

The senior, with Spinosa looking spent, won the last 14 points of the match. Dome said, “I've been really working on conditioning the last week, and I think that helped me.

“Plus, I think he was feeling that four-hour bus ride. It's a tough ride. I know. I've done it many times myself,” traveling to Southern California for tournaments.

Daniel and Nick Hollister kept the Eagles in the match early with their big win. Hollister smacked away shots at the net late then. Daniel struck balls well from the baseline.

Jones and Lieu bounced back, and the match was eventually Claremont's.

Santa Ynez 10, Estancia 8

Down 5-2, Santa Ynez's Juan Ferrer stormed back to beat Estancia's Eli Zaidler 7-6 (8-6) in what became a critical point for the Pirates in a win over Estancia in the second round of the Division IV playoffs.

“It was a great match,” Santa Ynez coach Larry Popkin said. “There were fans on both sides and the sportsmanship was just great. We had about eight or nine parents at the match. It was very exciting.”

Ferrer's comeback win proved to be necessary for the Pirates, who would have lost in a games tiebreaker.

Walnut 12, St. Joseph 6

WALNUT - The Knights' fine season ended at 18-2 with a second-round Division IV loss.

Sophomore Jake Eszes won two singles sets for the Knights, who tied Santa Ynez for the Los Padres League championship.

CIF Swimming

Division III Finals

LONG BEACH - Righetti's Casey Bateman placed twice in the Southern Sectional divisional finals at Belmont Plaza. He finished third in the boys 500 yard freestyle in 4:46.7 and sixth in 1:47.08 in the 200 freestyle.

Righetti's Julie Hendricks finished 12th in the girls 100 breaststroke and 13th in the 200 IM. She swam in the consolation finals.

May 11, 2008