CLAREMONT — The Pacifica Christian Orange County girls’ tennis team came close to not even making into the postseason.

After finishing tied for third in the Pacific Hills League with rival St. Margaret’s, the Tritons had to play a tiebreaker match against the Tartans for the league’s last automatic spot in the CIF Southern Section playoffs. If Pacifica Christian had lost that match, the season would have been over.

“We haven’t had five elimination [matches],” first-year head coach Caleb Barker said. “We’ve had six, actually.”

The Tritons earned a narrow win. And that fighting spirit took them all the way to Thursday at the Claremont Club, where they made history.

Pacifica Christian beat Carpinteria 12-6 for the CIF Southern Section Division 6 title, the first CIF championship in program history.

A new head coach and a more difficult league led to some growing pains. The Tritons finished their season with just a 10-10 record.

But they won those last six must-win matches on their way to the title. Thursday’s final was moved up a day due to rain in the forecast, meaning Pacifica Christian took the court again only 18 hours after dramatically beating St. Margaret’s in the Division 6 semifinals on Wednesday.

“Throughout the season, just watching them pull out really close wins — mentally, there is toughness just building and building and building,” Barker said. “That’s what I’m the most proud of, just their mental resolve through the whole run. But honestly, I haven’t processed that we’re CIF champions.”

Seniors Helena Bucher and Liana Fite swept at No. 1 doubles in Thursday’s match, a fitting end to both their senior season and their high school career.

“Honestly, we’re so happy we went through this together,” Fite said. “We’ve been friends for so long, ever since freshman year, and it’s just such a 360. It’s crazy that we won this our senior year.”

It wasn’t just a two-player effort. Pacifica Christian, which won three of its five postseason matches by scores of 9-9 or 10-8, was used to getting contributions across the board. Every singles player or doubles team won at least once against Citrus Coast League champion Carpinteria (15-7).

Freshman Ciena “CC” Anderson won twice at No. 1 singles. Junior Kaitlyn Pelligreen, the hero of Thursday’s CIF semifinal win over St. Margaret’s, also won twice at No. 2 singles, while junior Joelle Contreras contributed a win at No. 3 singles.

The Pacifica Christian doubles teams of juniors Erika Nelson and Gracie Azer, as well as senior Ryleigh Cross and junior Haven Thinnes, both also won twice.

“I’m really impressed how everyone was just able to really persevere, because I feel like we’ve had a lot,” Bucher said. “The season wasn’t easy for us. We moved divisions. We had new coaches, and I’m really proud of how everyone just learned to adapt and learned how to push.”

The Tritons led the final 4-2 after the first round and used a dominant second round to claim a 9-3 advantage. They clinched the match after a doubles win from Nelson and Azer in the final round.

Caroline Cooney, who won twice in singles, was the only player able to win multiple sets for Carpinteria.

“When we thought we needed a game from a certain doubles [team] or singles player, the other one would come in and they’d win,” Barker said. “Really, just picking each other up that way, I think that’s how we made it this far and how we won.”

The CIF finals win came after Pacifica Christian, challenged with two tight matches in the early rounds against Bolsa Grande and Lakewood St. Joseph (both 10-8 finals), faced a most familiar foe in the semifinals.

Playing St. Margaret’s for the fourth time in less than two months, the Tritons pulled out a dramatic win, 9-9 (78-74 on games), on Wednesday at Saddleback College.

They found themselves trailing in sets, 4-2, at the conclusion of the first rotation, and 7-5 after two rounds.

“It was looking pretty bleak,” Barker said. “For the most part, when we’ve played them, we’ve split, 3-3, 3-3, and then 4-2, and then that will usually win, 10-8. This match, when they went up, and their doubles looked way, way better than they have all season, I was pretty worried.”

Barker admitted he had already begun mentally preparing for a loss, but then the unexpected happened. Pelligreen, the Tritons’ No. 2 singles player, got up on Anna Farias.

Both teams lined the fence around the last remaining match on court, the result of the semifinal hanging in the balance. Pelligreen squandered a set point in a return game, but she battled back a game later.

In a long rally, she moved to the net, where she was called on to make a reactionary forehand volley. She nearly cut it too fine, but it turned out to be the perfect drop-volley, Farias unable to reach the ball in time.

“I was not sure [if Farias would get there],” Pelligreen said. “I was just kind of hitting the ball. In more stressful points, I kind of just try and take it one shot at a time, not really think too much about it.”

One point later, Pelligreen fired an ace down the middle to win the set, 6-4, sending Pacifica Christian to its second CIF final. The Tritons lost to Alhambra Mark Keppel, 12-6, in the Division 4 final in 2022.

“[At] 5-3, you really want to put the nail in the coffin, and [Pelligreen] had a match point at 5-3,” Barker said. “To lose that, and then to lose in deuce, and then to come back, be at 40-30 and serve an ace, I mean, the mental resolve to do that is pretty insane. I couldn’t be more proud of her.”

Pelligreen was the lone Triton to sweep her sets in the semifinal win, with Anderson also taking a pair of sets in singles.

The doubles teams of Bucher and Fite, as well as Azer and Nelson, each won two sets.