5A girls tennis: Fairview’s Bernthal highlights individual champions

DENVER – Individual girls tennis champions were crowned Saturday afternoon, May 13, at the Denver City Park tennis courts. After a tumultuous two days weather wise, the skies cooperated on day three to allow seven new individual lines to claim state medals.

Saturday served as a mini preview to Tuesday’s team championship matchup between No. 1 Cherry Creek and No. 2 Fairview, as all three singles lines, as well as 2 doubles, featured matchups between the two squads. Cherry Creek also had a finalist in the 3 and 4 doubles lines, while Fairview was in the 1 doubles.

In the feature matchup of the day at 1 singles, defending runner-up, Fairview junior Quinn Bernthal, finished the job this time around in a three set thriller over Cherry Creek senior Lorena Cedeno, who was the defending 2 singles champ. After dropping the first set, 3-6, Bernthal rallied to win the next two, 6-2, 6-4, to capture the gold and get mobbed by her teammates.

“It feels really nice, my team is so great,” Bernthal told Alissa Noe from BoCoPreps.com. “We have so many great seniors, and they won their match so I just fed off the energy from them. I’m just glad they were so supporting because that match was super tough. Lorena is such a great player and such a great friend too so I knew it was going to be a battle.”

It was a redemptive win for Bernthal after she fell short to two-time 1 singles champion, Boulder’s Lily Chitambar, as a sophomore last season. In the loss, she won a set, making her the first player to take a set from Chitambar all that season.

“I think each match you grow,” Bernthal continued. “I think I was able to build off of some of my past losses to get me through the match today.”

The win proved to be Fairview’s only in the singles ranks, as Bruins took the title at 2 singles and 3 singles in straight sets. In 2 singles, Cherry Creek’s Anika Sharma, the 2021 3 singles champ, defeated Fairview’s Stella Laird, 6-1, 6-2, while at 3 singles, Creek’s Jisele Boker went back-to-back as she defeated Fairview’s Elle Middleton 6-4, 6-0.

At 1 doubles, Fairview claimed another top spot as Virginia Gomulka and Elizabeth Roth ran the table to defeat Regis Jesuit’s Quinn Binaxas and Mary Clare Watts in another three-set thriller, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2. It was a momentous victory for the duo after finishing runner-up each of the last two years.

The Knights proved why Tuesday’s dual final should be a barn-burner, as their 2 doubles duo of Maya Brakage and Jane Roth defeated Creek’s Sayeesha Garud and Anika Laxminariyan in two quick sets, 6-1 and 6-2. It also marked back-to-back 2 doubles titles for the two.

The Bruins, however, took care of business in 3 and 4 doubles, as Farrah Bendell and Karissa Manley defeated Fossil Ridge’s Avery MacKenzie and Afton Sidwell in 3 doubles, 6-1, 6-3, while at 4 doubles, Creek’s Julia Karlberg and Zoey Hao outlasted Valor Christian’s Anna Schouten Sawyer Cruickshank in three sets, 6-1, 0-6, 6-3.

At the conclusion of the tournament, CHSAA Associate Commissioner who oversees tennis, Bethany Brookens, offered her thanks for everyone involved in making a three-day tournament happen in one and a half days.

“We would like to extend our utmost gratitude to all of the coaches, parents, players, athletic directors, school officials and fans that helped us squeegee the courts Friday morning to get play underway,” Brookens said. “We are also grateful to Denver City Park and Denver Tennis Park for their flexibility and willingness to let us use their facilities. Without their graciousness, this tournament would not have been possible.”