4A girls tennis: Geiss, Cheyenne Mountain take home championships
PUEBLO – With no defending champion in the mix, this year’s Class 4A No. 1 singles bracket appeared to be wide open and the classification’s top-tier title anyone’s for the taking.
But over the course of the three-day tournament at Pueblo City Park, Beilynn Geiss emerged as a favorite and rose to the top of the field to make the championship her own.
On Saturday, the Loveland senior clinched the No. 1 singles state championship with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Cheyenne Mountain sophomore Maya Michalski in the finals. It was a fitting way for Geiss to cap an outstanding senior season and a successful high school career.
“It’s a really good way to end off the season for sure,” Geiss said. “I’m just trying to process it right now. Winning state was my ultimate goal, but there’s so many good players. I just wanted to come and have a fun season and I did just that.”
“That was an amazing match. She’s so good,” Geiss said. “I hadn’t met her before and now we’re friends because she was such a great sport and such a great player. It was fun to play and, obviously, I really wanted to win. It came down to a tiebreak and it was a battle, so that was a really great experience.”
In the team competition, Cheyenne Mountain finished with 66 points and closed out yet another team title that had already been clinched the previous day. The program has now won 24 state championships, but this was the team’s first since 2019 with Mullen winning in 2021 and the season being canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Assistant coach Richard Michalski, who stood in for head coach David Adams while he was away at a family event on Saturday, said the 2022 title was a special one for the Red-Tailed Hawks after having to wait a couple years since their last one.
“The last time we did it was in 2019 and memories are usually short,” Michalski said. “It’s nice to have this refresher team and we have a relatively young team even though we have some graduating seniors. I think we have enough in the pipeline to kind of fill those gaps for next year. Right now, it feels absolutely amazing and I’m happy for all the girls who had amazing seasons from the number one player down through our doubles.
“We did the math last night and we knew that we were a lock to win this thing, which is great because you come out the next day and you play relaxed and the matches aren’t as crucial as other times where everything relies on the last match on the court. Our team was pleasantly relieved coming into today and they could just go out there, play loose and have fun.”
Palmer Ridge and Kent Denver finished in a tie for second place with 46 team points. Pine Creek was fourth with 40, Niwot was fifth with 35 and 2021 champion Mullen was sixth with 33.
At No. 2 singles, Niwot senior Anna Sallee, who finished runner-up in the same slot last spring, won 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 over Pine Creek senior Manoela Amantini Quintanilha in the finals.
“It was another challenging match and I think my experience really helped this year, knowing what happened last year and having that mental edge to tell myself, ‘You know what, every point counts and this can go as long as it’s going to go, but I’m in it until the end,’” Sallee said. “Part of me is also like, ‘Did that just happen?’ But I’m really proud of the way I played and she (Amantini Quintanilha) is a really great player, so I’m really happy to win.”
Pine Creek freshman Keelin Sills won 6-2, 6-1 against Palmer Ridge senior Alexandra Yuskiv to claim the No. 3 singles title.
At No. 1 doubles, Kent Denver’s Meredith Waters and Kendall Adams won 6-2, 6-3 over Ruby Muhl and Kate Twede from Cheyenne Mountain. In the No. 2 doubles bracket, Palmer Ridge’s Katrina Weiskircher and Ulla Schultz won 6-2, 6-3 in the finals against Mullen’s duo of Aubryanne Leugers and Renee Hoyt.
Cheyenne Mountain’s Sophia Bredder and Jocelyn Kelly defeated Kent Denver’s Isabell Bragg and Victoria Strobos, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, in the No. 3 doubles finals. In the four doubles finals, Mullen’s Avery Walters and Grace Brouillette took down Palmer Ridge’s Cora Goodwin and Juliya Yuskiv, 6-1, 6-3, to claim the title.
Palmer Ridge won the Vicky Mazarrato Sportsmanship Award.
