Press release from Northcoast Preparatory Academy:

NPA junior Lily Bazemore, recently won first place in the NCS Division 2 Championships for high school tennis singles. This is the first time that any player from Humboldt County has won this title, and Bazemore battled athletes spanning from Del Norte to San Francisco to clinch the championship. 

“It was one of the biggest mental challenges I faced because I felt like there was a lot of pressure,” said Bazemore. She overcame the pressure by taking the match a minute at a time. “I think just staying in the present moment was really important – just focusing on this point right here and not looking too far ahead,” Bazemore reflected. 

Bazemore is the first NCS Tennis Champion from Humboldt in girls or boys, singles or doubles, from Division 1 or Division 2, since the tournament began (1977 for girls and 1915 for boys). Bazemore won her championship match with a 6-2, 6-0 victory, never giving up more than two points per match the entire tournament. 

Bazemore, NPA, and Humboldt County hopes to repeat her success next year when she will be a senior. Congratulations, Lily! 

About NPA: Northcoast Preparatory Academy is an International Baccalaureate World School for students in grades 6-12 in Arcata. It was founded in 2000 to create a respectful and inspiring learning environment in which academic achievement, the arts, and responsible citizenship are valued equally. NPA students are active learners eager to discover more about all aspects of the world they live in, who value citizenship and service to others, and who, rather than simply trying to succeed in the society that they have inherited, seek to play an active role in solving its problems and to thrive in the process of doing so.