PUEBLO – As many times as Cheyenne Mountain has won the Red-Tailed Hawks know well the value of taking care of business on Day 1 of the Class 4A state championships.
 
At Pueblo City Park, the Red-Tailed Hawks did exactly that by advancing players to the semifinals at six of the seven ladders spots and ending the opening day of the three-day tournament as the overall team leader with 18 points. Starting with a slight lead on Friday morning, the Red-Tailed Hawks will continue chasing their program’s 24^th title and first since 2019.
 
“That’s all you can ask for,” Cheyenne Mountain coach David Adams said. “Of course, tomorrow is all the big points. But you have to do well today in order to do well tomorrow and gain some separation. The good news is we’re in position to do well on the second day. You can’t complain about having six spots in the semis. Six feels a lot better than five.”
 
Just behind Cheyenne Mountain, Kent Denver finished the first day with 17 team point. The Sun Devils advanced to five semifinals, only falling short at No. 1 and No. 3 singles.
 
“I’m super proud of the girls. We went in with a strategy, we stuck to our strategy and they fought hard,” Kent Denver coach Tyffani Thomas said. “They made the other girls hard and they did a great job of executing the game plan. My goal, first and foremost, is for the girls to have fun. And if they play like I know they can and how they practice, we have a chance of taking it. But, it’s all about how they show up and how hard they’re willing to work. It’s up to them at this point and it’s all them.”
 
In third, Palmer Ridge is seeking its first girls tennis team championship and the Bears are off to a decent start with 16 team points and five ladder spots in the semifinals. Defending champion Mullen finished Day 1 in third place with 13 team points, and Pine Creek and Niwot each tallied nine points.
 
With all three of last year’s singles champions having graduated, the field appears to be wide open in those brackets.
 
At No. 1 singles, Loveland’s Beilynn Geiss, Pine Creek’s Ava Lewis, Niwot’s Alys Pop  and Cheyenne Mountain’s Maya Michalski will make up Friday’s semifinals field. At No. 2 singles, Niwot’s Anna Sallee, Kent Denver’s Annika Berry, Cheyenne Mountain’s Taylor Stadjuhar and Pine Creek’s Manoela Amantini Quintanilha compose the semifinal field. At No. 3 singles, Pine Creek’s Keelin Sills, Lewis-Palmer’s Genevieve Berning, Cheyenne Mountain’s Hailey Javernick and Palmer Ridge’s Alexandra Yuskiv will play in the semifinals on Friday.
 
Play will resume with the championship semifinals at 9 a.m. on Friday.