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The Arcata Tigers tennis team made some H-DNL history this week by taking home a first-ever NCS pennant in the sport, boys or girls.

The Tigers pairing of Aimee Reiner and Keona Gutierrez teamed up to win two of their three matches at the NCS Division-II girls doubles tournament on Monday and Tuesday, placing second to the Piedmont pairing of Emily Becker and Audrey Call.

“Considering they’re just a freshman and a sophomore, they were phenomenal,” Arcata head coach Sheldon Heath said of the Tigers duo.

Reiner, a sophomore, and Gutierrez, a freshman, were awarded the No. 2 seed for the tournament after a big season on the North Coast. 

They beat Marin Catholic’s Katie Miller and Charlotte Hachman 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, before getting the better of Head Royce’s Kira Koga-Eisenhauer and Nicole DePetra 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals to set up a championship showdown against No. 1 seed Piedmont.

“Aimee and Keona are just excellent tennis players and can compete at the highest level,” Heath added.

Reiner and Gutierrez pushed the Piedmont pairing to three sets before falling 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

The history making pennant caps a memorable season for the Tigers, who rolled over most of the opposition on the North Coast on the way to an undefeated league campaign.

“We had a great team this year,” Heath said. “It was just a great group of girls.”

The NCS tournament was held at Napa Valley College.

In singles play, Del Norte’s Danika Scott represented the H-DNL after winning the league title.

Scott fell 6-2, 6-3 to Fremont’s Katy Wu in her opening match.

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Ray Hamill writes at humboldtsports.com, where you can read lots more about sports in Humboldt County.