With a berth in the Class 4A state individual girls tennis tournament on the line, Thompson Valley and Loveland staged a three-set battle at No. 2 doubles for the Region 4 championship Friday at Mehaffey Park.
The Red Wolves’ duo of Karamea Omlid and Leah Zwahlen won the first set against the Eagles’ pair of Gennevieve White and Emma Earhart, 6-2, and the Thompson Valley team took the second set, 6-2, to set up a deciding third set.
“I think me and Emma usually take a couple of games, or even a set to just start moving,” White said. “But once it hits the third set, we’re just ready to go, and I think we realized that this is regionals and we just started moving and communicating.”
White and Earhart carried the momentum they gained from winning the second set into the third and won it 6-4.
The win not only clinched the only regional title of the day for Thompson Valley but secured a spot in next week’s individual state tournament in Pueblo.
Both seniors, it will be White’s second state tournament appearance and Earhart’s first.
“It’s really, really exciting,” Earhart said. “It’s only my second year playing and making it from JV to varsity and getting this kind of win is super exciting for me.”
Earhart and White defeated Frederick (6-2, 6-0) in the quarterfinals and Mountain View (6-2, 6-2) in the semifinals Wednesday to get to Friday’s final.
Despite finishing second, Omlid and Zwahlen are headed to state as well.
While the regional winner is guaranteed a spot at state, the loser of the championship match possibly had to win a playback match to get there. The Loveland pair did not need it.
“It feels amazing,” Zwahlen said. “I literally never expected it. Going into it, you never really know what’s going to happen, but I’m really proud of us.”
Zwahlen, a junior, and Omlid, a senior, played together a little last year but have played together all this season, which has helped the two form a bond on the court.
That bond has carried them all the way to the first state tournament appearance for both of them.
“This is my first year that I’ve qualified for state, and last year we were really close to qualifying,” Omlid said. “So, it just really satisfying to know that I’ve finally reached one of my goals for this year.”
White and Earhart won’t be the only Eagles playing in Pueblo next week. They will be joined by their other three doubles lines.
At 1 doubles, Penny Gilbert and Payton Reichelderfer lost to Windsor’s Taylor Meinen and Emma George 6-2, 7-5. They then had to win a playback match against Mountain View’s Kiori Torrez and Sophie Bellmar for a spot at state, and they did 6-4, 6-3.
Thompson Valley’s 3 doubles line of Madi Evig and Caroline Aiken, and its 4 doubles line of Sophia Ferrell and Sophia Railsback, lost their finals to Windsor but still qualified for state as the regional runner-up.
The only local singles player to advance to state out of the region was Mountain View senior Rebecca Napolitano.
The regional champion last year, Napolitano ran into a powerful freshman from Windsor, Aristea Fulgenzi, and lost 6-1, 6-4.
“I think I went in knowing how she played a little, and I had a strategy in mind,” Napolitano said. “I think it took me a while to get used to just her power and her game style. But I was proud of how I played in that second set and just that I was able to keep a positive attitude and just enjoy my last game at regionals.”
Even though she lost, Napolitano will make her fourth appearance at the state tournament in her senior season as the regional runner-up.
She hopes this year will be her best, although as the second-place finisher in the regional, she will likely have a tougher draw.
“My goal is definitely to make the semifinals,” she said. “I know it’s a lot harder now since I didn’t win the region. You have a tougher draw, typically. But I’m just hopeful that I get a decent draw and that I can push my way through it and make it to the semi.”
Windsor won the team regional championship with 87 points. Thompson Valley was the runner-up with 60. Mountain View was third with 41 and Loveland was fifth with 24.
Berthoud, RCS players qualify for 3A state tournament
Berthoud’s Amelia Major went undefeated through the 2 singles bracket at the Region 5 tournament at Dawson School to advance to next weekend’s Class 3A individual state tournament in Colorado Springs.
Major was the No. 2 seed and defeated top seed Quinna Donohue of Dawson in the final, 7-5, 6-1.
She will be joined by her 4 doubles teammates of Kinsley Fenderson and Adyson Godfrey, who won the regional championship with a victory over Peak to Peak’s Oorja Gujarathi and Karina Lefort, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
At the 3A Region 4 tournament at Eaton, Resurrection Christian’s Kylee Mayes was the only Cougar to qualify for state.
The No. 1 singles player for RCS, Mayes lost in the championship match to top seed JoAnna Carter of Severance, 6-3, 7-6, 6-2, but qualified for state as the regional runner-up.
