The girls tennis state tournaments will use a two-day format to avoid weather

AURORA — The state tennis tournaments in all classifications will condense to a two-day format this week in an effort to avoid poor weather in the forecast.

The tournaments were each scheduled to be played this Thursday through Saturday. Instead, with rain and snow expected on Thursday, the championships will be played only on Friday and Saturday.

The 3A tournament is hosted in Greeley, 4A is in Pueblo, and 5A is in Denver. Both Denver and Greeley are expecting snow on Thursday, while rain is in the forecast for Pueblo.

“It is our hope that this advance notice can help with travel and planning,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Bethany Brookens. “While weather in uncertain and there may be an opportunity for sporadic play on Thursday, we believe it is in the best interest to cancel the entire day, so that schools aren’t waiting around and having to pay for hotel rooms.

“Additionally, we want consistency of rest time within a bracket and between brackets. We have used this two-day format before, and we are confident that each classification will still have a great tournament.”

The plan is for the first and second rounds to be played on Friday. Saturday will consist of semifinal and championship matches, along with all playbacks, and third- and fourth-place matches.

The matches will be scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on Friday, but play will begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday.

Additionally, the 3A and 5A tournaments will split to two sites each.

3A will use Centennial Park in Greeley as its primary site, and the University of Northern Colorado as the second site both days.

5A’s primary site will remain Gates Tennis Center in Denver. A second site — Utah Park in Aurora — will be used on Friday, and Saturday all matches will be held at Gates Tennis Center.

The 4A tournament will be played entirely at Pueblo City Park.