The plan is to continue play with matches originally scheduled for Friday on Friday afternoon at Gates Tennis Center. This includes all matches through the second round of playbacks. Update: All matches will be played at Gates. None will be moved to Denver Tennis Park.
The hope is to be able to resume play at Gates with warmups as early as 2 p.m. on Friday, if the courts are dry by then.
If there are any matches still on the court at Denver Tennis Park after 10 p.m., they will be moved to Saturday morning at Gates at 8 a.m.
This plan will allow Saturday’s original format with the championship and third-place matches to stick to their originally-scheduled 9 a.m. start, and also allow them to all begin at once, keeping the ceremony of the day intact.
PUEBLO — One point will end seven agonizing years for Cheyenne Mountain boys tennis. A program that has been traditionally strong in the sport is almost a decade removed from hoisting a championship trophy, but by all accounts, the Indians are firmly in the driver’s seat heading into Saturday’s Class 4A boys tennis finals.
At the conclusion of Friday’s semifinal matches and playbacks, Cheyenne Mountain sat atop the team standings with 69 points. It will play for five individual championships on Saturday and need just one point remain out of reach of Mullen who is in second place with 54 points. The Mustangs have 15 points they can get on Saturday.
Three of those final matches will be head to head with Cheyenne Mountain meaning Mullen needs a sweep and a little help if there is going to be a split title.
That’s something Cheyenne Mountain coach David Adams is hoping to avoid. To do that, he’s spending Friday night letting his boys know that even a point away, there are no givens in these situations.
“One year we were in that kind of position,” Adams said. “We needed one match. We didn’t get it and we lost the state tournament by one point. We’ll talk about that. We’re just going to tell them not to leave it up to anyone else. You be the one who crosses the finish line.”
Among those who will look to do so will be Joey Geisz in No. 1 singles. Geisz beat Dawson senior Riley Burridge 6-2, 6-1 in Friday’s semifinals and will face off with Niwot junior Neil Wilcox.
But the two competitors were on opposite sides of the bracket this year and while an individual championship would be a feather in Geisz’s cap, he knew his semifinal match was important not just for him, but for his team.
“I was nervous going into because that match is worth 11 points,” Geisz said. “Those 11 points mean so much. And now tomorrow is like a dream come true. I get to play in a final at state.”
He’ll have to be on his game if he’s going to take down Wilcox. The Cougars junior cruised to two easy wins on Thursday before getting a 6-0, 6-2 win over Mullen’s Mac Caldwell. The two games he lost in the second set were the first games he dropped in this state tournament.
“I lost my focus and got a little frustrated,” Wilcox said. “I wasn’t playing my best tennis, but he was also playing very well.”
Ben Bicknell joins Wilcox as the only two Niwot positions to be battling for a state title. Cheyenne Mountain and Mullen both go for five championships on Saturday.
And even if things are seemingly locked up for Cheyenne Mountain, Adams wants his boys to finish the tournament the way they started on Thursday.
Strong.
“We need to take care of business and we’re going to be challenged in every match tomorrow,” Adams said. “If we think it’s a done deal, we’re foolish.”
It’s not a done deal. But one point will make all the difference.
DENVER — Greeley West’s Nico Jamison burst his way onto the No. 1 singles scene during the first day of play at the Class 5A boys tennis state tournament.
Jamison, the lone freshman in the No. 1 singles draw, beat two juniors as he clinched a spot in Friday’s semifinals. He opened his day with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Denver East’s Louis Salfi, and then followed it with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Ralston Valley’s Dayton Fisher in the quarterfinals.
In just his first state tennis meet, Jamison is seeking to join some rare company: Greeley West has had just one singles champion in school history, and it’s someone Nico is familiar with — Nick Jamison, Nico’s father, won in 1990.
Morgan Schilling. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Jamison will face Regis Jesuit’s Morgan Schilling in the semifinals. Schilling, a junior, was runner-up at No. 1 singles last season, and won his first two matches 6-1, 6-1 (against Arapahoe’s Jared Green) and 6-3, 6-2 (against Monarch’s Michael Conde).
Schilling and Jamison have already met this season, having played in regionals. Schilling won that match 7-5, 6-2.
Also punching a semifinal ticket at No. 1 singles were:
Cherry Creek junior George Cavo, who beat Rock Canyon’s Chris Swanson (6-3, 6-1) and Mountain Vista’s Trevor Fone (6-3, 6-1). Cavo was also a semifinalist last season, where he dropped a match to Schilling.
Fairview junior Luke Silverman, who beat Poudre’s Sam Knape (6-2, 6-0) and Heritage’s Braeden Thomas (6-0, 4-2, withdraw). Silverman advanced to the quarterfinals in No. 1 singles last season.
Cavo and Silverman met way back on Aug. 28 in a match that went three sets. Cavo won, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4.
In terms of the team race, defending champion Regis Jesuit leads the way with 21 points. Perennial power Cherry Creek is just behind with 19 points, Valor Christian is in third with 14, Denver East is fourth with 13, and Fairview is fifth with 10.
The tournament continues on Friday at Gates Tennis Center with semifinals at 9 a.m. in all positions. Playback matches will follow immediately.
