DENVER — Two teams are vying for the Class 5A girls’ state tennis championship, and they have to go through each other to do it.
With a 12-point lead at the end of the second of day of the tournament, Cherry Creek appears to have the team title well in hand.
But the Fairview Knights shouldn’t be counted out so easily. With five finals to play, the Knights must win every single of one of them and get some outside help in order to walk away with a team title.
Unlikely as it is, one can never say never in the world of sports.
Fairview coach Susan Stensrud is well aware of the situation her team will be in come Wednesday. But that doesn’t mean that she’s not excited about the opportunity.
“We’ve been in this position before and we know that we just have to go all out to win it,” she said. “One year, we won four and Creek won three and we still lost, so I’m still smarting from that one. We know that Creek has a really tough team.”
In all five of Fairview’s final matches, they will face off against Bruins, putting them in a win-or-go-home situation. Rather than worrying about winning, Stensrud just wants her players to play the best they can.
“I’m mostly worried about the kids playing their best and if it goes our way, then I’m happy,” she said. “I really don’t focus on the win. I think if I coach well and the kids play well, they will win. But winning is not the focus.”
In order for the Bruins to come away with their 19th-consecutive team title, all they need to do is win a single match. They will have six opportunities to do so. The only match that won’t be against a Fairview opponent is in the No. 4 doubles bracket where Hannah Peterson and Allison Murphy will take on Ralston Valley’s Riley Knipp and Priya Keller.
“Four doubles, it’s a new team with two new players on varsity,” Cherry Creek coach Chris Jacob said. “They’ve grown so much as a team while playing on this team together.”
But when Jacobs looks at the slate of matches between her players and those from Fairview, the added incentive of a team title being at stake makes things a little more interesting.
“We’ve had a great year and they’ve had a great year too, it’s fun to have that opportunity,” Jacob said. “I don’t want the girls to know that (it comes down to) one match because I don’t want them to relax too much.”
That shouldn’t be a concern for Jacob as her players are well aware of what their matches will not only mean to themselves, but to their teammates as well.
“It adds a little more intensity since we’re playing for more than just ourselves,” Cherry Creek senior Sarah Grace Walker said. “It definitely makes me want to focus more.”
Wednesday’s final matches get underway at the Gates Tennis Center at 9:30 a.m.
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Notables
Ralston Valley duo to play final match together
Haley Weidemann and Adrien Horowitz have shared every moment of the last four state tournaments together. They have played every single match together in their four years at Ralston Valley, with Wednesday’s finals in the No. 1 doubles bracket being the last time they will compete as a team.
“I can’t imagine playing with anyone else,” Weidemann said. “We’re best friends in real life and to get to play with (Adrien) every day has been the best time ever.”
Three-hour semis
For Natalie Munson (Fairview) and Kendra Lavallee (Mountain Vista), it was plenty of time well spent on the court.
In the No. 2 singles bracket, Munson beat Lavallee 7-6 (0), 4-6, 7-5 to advance to the finals. The match took just over three hours to complete.
Updated team scores and brackets
For updated team scores and brackets, click here.
