5A Girls Tennis: Ralston Valley Wins First-Ever Team Tennis Title

DENVER – For the first time since 2017, a team other than Cherry Creek won the Class 5A girls tennis team state championships.

On Tuesday at Denver Tennis Park, the Ralston Valley Mustangs topped Cherry Creek by a score of 4-2 in the dual-style team championship finals. Not only did it snap the Bruins’ most recent streak of dominance, the victory earned Ralston Valley its first-ever girls tennis team title.

“It means everything. We’ve been trying to go after Creek for so many years,” said Ralston’s Valley’s Scarlett Lutz, whose win at No. 3 singles closed out the victory. “They’ve been so dominant in every sport, especially tennis. It’s just such a big thing for us. We believed before the season that we could do it and it just means so much to me and my whole team.”

Lutz’s title-clinching win came by a 6-2, 7-5 score over Cherry Creek’s Zoe Hochstadt.

At No. 2 singles, Ralston Valley’s Emerson Bonner won 7-5, 6-4 against Cherry Creek’s Jisele Boker. Tuesday’s No. 1 singles final between Ralston Valley’s Ally Lowe and Cherry Creek’s Anika Sharma did not finish before the conclusion of the No. 3 singles match ended the dual.

The No. 1 doubles victory went to Ralston Valley’s Adia Farling and Cassidy Gordon, 6-1, 6-4 over Cherry Creek’s Sabrina Sharma and Sayeesha Garud. At No. 2 doubles, Cherry Creek’s Riley Loehr and Zoey Hao won 6-2, 6-4 over Ralston Valley’s Parker Lucas and Kylie Engelsman.

In the No. 3 doubles finals, Ralston Valley’s Tay Farling and Sofia Elola won 6-3, 6-2 against Cherry Creek’s Joelle Yoon and Karissa Manley. At No. 4 doubles, Cherry Creek’s Julia Karlberg and Beth Munro beat Ralston Valley’s Elaina Roboff and Kate Decker, 6-4, 6-1.

“I knew Ally had lost the first set of her match, and I knew it was going to be a tough one,” Lutz said. “All of the Creek players are such great players and nice people. I knew it was going to come down to me and I knew I had the support of all of my team and everyone behind me. That helped a lot.”

The Bruins won 19-straight titles from 1997 to 2015. Fairview broke the streak in 2016. Cherry Creek then won the next six straight titles before Ralston Valley was victorious this season.

Since Cherry Creek joined Class 5A in 1995, a team other than Cherry Creek has won just three times. Since the Colorado girls tennis team state championships began in 1975, Cherry Creek has won a team title in all but 10 seasons.