Girls tennis team championships claimed at Denver Tennis Park

DENVER — It took maybe a little longer than anticipated, but Ralston Valley girls tennis team won its third straight Class 5A team title Tuesday morning at the Denver Tennis Center.

The top-seeded Mustangs defeated No. 2 Cherry Creek by a score of 4-1 with three matches all in their third set when Ralston Valley clinched the team win. Five of the seven matches went to three sets.

“It’s insane, honestly,” Ralston Valley senior and No. 3 singles Scarlett Lutz said of the 3-peat. “It’s crazy because I’m pretty sure no other team at Ralston Valley have won three state titles in a row. I’m just so proud of us and our school. We know everyone there is supporting us.”

Ralston Valley had won four individual state titles last weekend, but knew the Bruins would be tough in the team tournament finale.

“Creek is always a good team. They always fight,” Lutz said. “We knew it was going to be a battle no matter what. I wasn’t really surprised. Was I a little scared? Yes.”

Lutz and Ralston Valley senior and No. 1 singles Emerson Bonner both dropped their opening set. Ralston Valley sophomore Anna Curran cruised to a 6-3 victory in her first set at No. 2 singles, but eventually all three singles matches went to three sets.

“I looked down the line and saw we were down in a couple of matches,” Bonner said. “I knew I could only control what I was doing. I just put in the most effort I could and control what I could do.”

Bonner fought back to win the second set 6-1 and then took the third set 6-3 to win the match and give the Mustangs a 2-1 lead. The senior, who is headed to play tennis at Whitman College in Washington, also celebrated her 18th birthday on Tuesday.

“I saw that at the beginning of the year,” Bonner said of the state championship team final being on her 18th birthday. “I thought it would be such a special way to end my high school career, and we did it.”

Cherry Creek’s No. 4 doubles team of Dylan Milo and Riley Farber won 6-1, 6-1 in the first match that went final, but Ralston Valley got on the board with its No. 1 doubles team of junior Mataya Farling and freshman Harlowe Lutz winning 6-3, 6-3.

Scarlett Lutz, who will continue her tennis career at Chapman University in California, closed out her third set 6-2 to put the Mustangs one win away from clinching the title.

“I knew Emerson had it in her. I believe in her,” Scarlett Lutz said of her fellow senior who also dropped her opening set. “That has been our thing. Believe in yourself, but be humble about it.”

Ralston Valley’s No. 2 doubles team of junior Olivia Hendrickson and sophomore Julia Campbell officially clinched the team win taking their third set 6-1.

“It means the world, but it’s not the wins that I’ll remember,” Bonner said. “It will be this team and how much love we have for each other.”

Ralston Valley becomes only the second girls tennis program from Jeffco to win three consecutive team titles. D’Evelyn captured three straight 3A girls tennis team title from 2021 to 2023.

Class 5A

POSITION	WINNER	RESULT
No. 1 singles	Emerson Bonner (Ralston Valley)	def. Autumn Doyle (Cherry Creek) 1-6, 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 singles
No. 3 singles	Scarlett Lutz (Ralston Valley)	def. Lizzie Harbaugh (Cherry Creek) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
No. 1 doubles	Mataya Farling & Harlowe Lutz (Ralston Valley)	def. Karis Manley & Elena Seeps (Cherry Creek) 6-3, 6-3
No. 2 doubles	Julia Campbell & Olivia Hendrickson (Ralston Valley)	def. Ashley Geoghegan & Zoe Hochstadt (Cherry Creek) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
No. 3 doubles
No. 4 doubles	Riley Farber & Dylan Milo (Cherry Creek)	def. Hailey Rabbit & Sofia Elola (Ralston Valley) 6-1, 6-1

Class 4A

Cheyenne Mountain repeats to clinch 27th team title

By Dan Mohrmann

Hoisting championship gold is a familiar feeling for Cheyenne Mountain coach Dave Adams. It’s the journey toward the hoisting that tends to be unchartered.
After what many felt was an upset win over Kent Denver a year ago, the Red-Tailed Hawks left no doubt in their bid to win their fourth title in five years.

They topped Kent Denver 4-0, getting wins from Alyssa Sadri (No. 2 singles), Sophie Zhou (No. 3 singles), Ruth Ringer and Ayva Bonicelli, (No. 3 doubles) and Erica Leveille & Eleena Case (No. 4 doubles).

“After last year, and with most everyone coming back, the target was on our back,” Adams said. “We had a great individual state tournament this past weekend and it’s really hard to not let down. I was really pleased with these girls keeping their nose to the grindstone and keeping their focus.”

This is the 14th title for the Red-Tailed Hawks under Adams. Cherry Creek has the most team titles with 39, then Cheyenne Mountain has 27. The third-most in state history is six by Mullen. Adams alone has eight more tennis championships than the team with the third-most in state history regardless of classification.

But he’d be the first to say that it’s the kids who earn the titles by consistently doing the little things that matter.

“The things that you preach forever and ever in practice and feel like by now we should be getting this; to see it come to fruition, it always makes it worthwhile,” Adams said.

That’s what has kept him coming back all these years. And each time he sees his team hoist a state championship trophy, he’s reminded of how much the reward was worth the work.

Class 4A

POSITION	WINNER	RESULT
No. 1 singles
No. 2 singles	Alyssa Sadri (Cheyenne Mountain)	Nora Rapp (Kent Denver) 6-0, 6-0
No. 3 singles	Sophie Zhou	def. Dylan Sturman 6-0, 6-0
No. 1 doubles		def.
No. 2 doubles
No. 3 doubles	Ruth Ringer & Ayva Bonicelli (Cheyenne Mountain)	def. Sofia Pina & Drea Dickman 6-1, 6-2
No. 4 doubles	Erica Leveille & Eleena Case	def. Lily Pendergrast and Maddie Bjork

Class 3A

Colorado Academy shrugs off hectic 24 hours, wins girls tennis title

By Dan Mohrmann

A quick turnaround couldn’t delay a championship run for Colorado Academy. The Mustangs had quite the 24-hour period as they had to travel to Vail on Monday to play in the 3A girls tennis semifinals before coming right back to face Prospect Ridge Academy in the final.

CA took out No. 1 Vail Christian on the road in a match that was supposed to be played last week, but was delayed because of the winter storm that rolled through the state.

On top of the stress from the delay, nothing came easy. It took all seven matches to beat the Saints on Monday and the Miners weren’t going down without a fight. CA won the championship dual 4-2, but the nerves were present every step of the way.

“There were a lot of emotions,” CA’s Mira Leon said. “Every match [on Monday] was stressful and came down to the wire and today was just as stressful. But we got the win and it was all worth it.”

Leon won the No. 1 singles match 6-2, 7-5 over Maya Anderson. The Mustangs also got wins from Annika Bhandari (No. 3 singles), Kate Johnson and Klara Kiesey (No. 2 doubles) and Claire Fisher and Emery Mikula (No. 4 doubles).

PRA got wins from Yazhini Godwin and Stephanie Milter at No. 1 doubles and Elsie Schuler and Arianna Rader at No. 3 doubles.

This is the second girls tennis championship for Colorado Academy as they beat Vail Christian in the championship dual in 2024.

Class 3A

POSITION	WINNER	RESULT
No. 1 singles	Mira Leon (Colorado Academy)</ strong>	def. Maya Anderson (Prospect Ridge Academy) 6-2, 7-5
No. 2 singles
No. 3 singles	Annika Bhandari (Colorado Academy)	def. Kate Nelson (Prospect Ridge Academy) 6-4, 6-1
No. 1 doubles	Yazhini Godwin & Stephanie Milter (Prospect Ridge Academy)	def. Sheena Wu and Elise Yang (Colorado Academy) 6-3, 6-2
No. 2 doubles	Kate Johnson & Klara Kiesey (Colorado Academy)	Zerren Lutska & Janessa Gomez (Prospect Ridge Academy)
No. 3 doubles	Elsie Schuler & Arianna Rader (Prospect Ridge Academy)	def. Avery Koch & Claire Thurman (Colorado Academy) 6-1, 6-2
No. 4 doubles	Claire Fisher & Emery Mikula (Colorado Academy)	def. Dheetcha Krishnan and Lea Martell (Prospect Ridge Academy) 6-3, 6-2