Tennis breezes through first round

Ladies’ tennis defeats Bellflower 14-4 in round one of the 2023 CIF playoffs

Jeremiah Dollins, Pepper Bough Adviser

November 2, 2023

Juliette Echaregui leads the Yellowjackets to a 14-4 victory over Bellflower in the first round of the CIF playoffs.

Colton, CA—This has been a magical season for the Yellowjacket ladies’ tennis team, and they kept the magic alive yesterday by defeating the Bellflower Buccaneers in the first round of the division 6 CIF playoffs 14-4.

“The girls looked pretty solid in the first round,” said head coach Omar Menjivar.

This feels a bit like an understatement. On the singles side, they swept all nine sets against the Buccaneers, with Juliette Echauregui winning her three sets 6-1, 6-1, 6-1. Shantel Marentes struggled a little, but came out with three victories, as well, 7-5, 6-4, 6-0. And Hazel Ramirez took all three of her sets, too, winning 7-5, 6-1, 6-0.

“I was honestly nervous at first,” said Marentes. “We didn’t know who we were playing and their skills level. I’m happy to say we took a strong win today. Our hard work has paid off.”

The number one doubles team of Emily Melgarejo and Valeria Pech dominated their opposition, winning 6-1, 6-4, 6-1. Number two team Ashley Galvan and Katia Razo took two of three from the Bucaneers, 6-4, 6-1, 3-6. Hailey Dubon and Natalie Diaz struggled, losing their three sets 4-6, 1-6, 2-6, but as a collective, the doubles teams took five of the nine sets against Bellflower.

Pech is confident in her team. “Advancing to the second round wasn’t a surprise. We are a solid team and compared to them, who came in third [in the Mid-Cities League], we knew what the outcome was going to be.”

Pech’s partner on the court took a much different approach to analyzing the victory. “Yippee! Yippee! Yippee!” she exclaimed, before adding, “After all the hard work our team has put in, I am proud of us for making it this far.”

Coach Menjivar is a bit more grounded in his analysis. “As we get deeper in each round we’re gonna have to clean up some of the small mistakes that can hurt us against others—even-matched, or higher-matched teams. We hope to correct these small mistakes so that as we come into Friday’s match, we can play with full confidence and bring our ‘A’ game.”

The team gets a day off today. On Friday, they will travel to Upland to face Western Christian in round two.

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About the Contributor

Jeremiah Dollins, Adviser

Jeremiah Dollins is in his third year as adviser for the award-winning Pepper Bough, Colton High School’s official source of news and entertainment. This is his 24th year in education, where he has taught students in grades 7-12 everything from English to Film Studies. His passions include writing and talking about movies, graphic design, and photography. For the Pepper Bough, he frequently contributes sports reporting, film reviews, and other odds-and-ends as he works with students to support their emergence as the next generation of journalists.