For the third time in the short four-year history of the event, the Thompson Valley girls tennis team has qualified for the Class 4A state team tournament.
The Eagles are the No. 11 seed in the 4A field and will face No. 6 Grand Junction in the first round at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Grand Junction.
Thompson Valley head coach Jay Klagge said Thursday after the Eagles defeated Loveland in their annual crosstown dual that he expected his Eagles to either be one of the last teams in or one of the first teams left out. Although they have to play on the road, Thompson Valley made it comfortably into the field.
“We keep surprising ourselves,” Klagge said after the pairings were released Monday.
Thompson Valley qualified for the inaugural 4A state team tournament in 2023. The Eagles were the No. 4 seed and defeated No. 13 Longmont in the first round, 4-3, and No. 5 Niwot in the second round, 4-3, before losing to Mullen in the semifinals, 6-1.
After not qualifying for the event in 2024, the Eagles were the No. 13 seed last year and lost to No. 4 Niwot in the first round, 4-3.
The Eagles concluded their regular season Tuesday with a dual against Greeley Central. Thompson Valley was 7-1 in duals going into the match against the last place team in its league. The Eagles clinched their second straight conference championship last Tuesday with a 5-2 victory over Timnath.
Thompson Valley’s only dual loss of the season came against Vail Christian, the No. 1 seed in the Class 3A team bracket.
While the Eagles haven’t faced any of the teams in the 4A team bracket, they have wins over three of the teams in the 3A field — Wellington, Severance and Timnath.
The team’s success this season has come after having to replace eight seniors out of the 11 players on the squad’s seven lines from last year’s squad.
The winner of the Thompson Valley-Grand Junction first-round matchup will face either No. 3 Mullen or No. 14 Ponderosa in the quarterfinals Friday.
Thompson Valley was the only area team to qualify for the state team tournaments. Despite owning head-to-head victories over two of the teams and a 4-3 loss to the No. 8 seed in the Class 3A field, Resurrection Christian was left out.
