5A Girls Tennis: Valor Christian’s Caroline Daugherty Repeats as State Champion

DENVER – Given the results of several battles at Saturday’s Class 5A girls tennis state individual finals, the upcoming team championship looks like an all-out war.

Ralston Valley and Cherry Creek will clash for the 5A team dual title on Tuesday at the Denver Tennis Park, the same venue that housed five meetings between the Mustangs (last season’s champion) and Bruins in finals at the end of the three-day individual tournament.

The results bode well for Ralston Valley, which won four of the five head-to-heads — including two three-setters — and had five state champions in all in a statement performance.

The Mustangs’ first individual state title went to freshman Anna Curran, who completed an undefeated season with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Cherry Creek junior Zoey Hochstadt. After she won her first three matches of the tournament without losing a single game, Curran found a more formidable challenge in Hochstadt, who was also undefeated coming into the match. The Ralston Valley frosh earned a late break to crack open the first set and claimed it with a winner and then posted her seventh shutout set to clinch it.

“It feels amazing as a freshman,” Curran said. “I’ve tried my best to be a good sport and try my hardest. This feels like a good reward for all of that. …And my team is absolutely amazing, they push me and they are so fun to be around. I think that team atmosphere is so important because as a singles player it can get lonely.”

The first of three Ralston Valley doubles victories over Cherry Creek came from the No. 4 doubles teams of sophomore Kate Decker and freshman Sophia Baig, who capped a dominant run through the tournament with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Cherry Creek’s tandem of sophomore Chagajee Colburn and freshman Ashley Geoghegan.

The No. 2 and 3 doubles matches both went the full three sets and the Mustangs clawed back from deficits to win both.

Sophomore Mataya Farling had winning championship experience from last season with Ralston Valley at No. 3 doubles and she added to her title haul as she and freshman partner Julia Campbell dug deep for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory over the Cherry Creek team of junior Sydney Wadsworth and sophomore Dylan Milo. A first-set loss also didn’t derail the championship bid of the No. 2 team of senior Kylie Engelsman and sophomore Olivia Hendrickson, who rallied past Cherry Creek junior Karissa Manley and freshman Elizabeth Harbaugh 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.

The lone Cherry Creek head-to-head win over Ralston Valley came at No. 1 doubles, where senior Zoey Hao and sophomore Elena Sepesi put the finishing touches on a dominant season.

Hao and Sepesi fed on each other’s energy in the key portions of their match against Ralston Valley seniors Adia Farling and Cassidy Gordon (the defending state champions at the position) to a 6-3, 6-3 victory. It completed a campaign in which the Bruins went undefeated and didn’t drop a single set.

“We’re proud, but not satisfied yet with the team championship on Tuesday,” said Hao, now a four-time individual state champion.

Sepesi, one of eight new members on the Cherry Creek team this season, clinched the championship with a big putaway at the net, complete with a smile that Hao always recognizes when she is ready to put away an overhead.
“We’ll celebrate this, but the job’s not done,” Sepesi said. “We just need to keep our energy up and stay aggressive even if we are down.”

Ralston Valley’s final title came at No. 2 singles from junior Scarlett Lutz (last season’s No. 3 singles state champion), who managed to outlast a challenge from Rock Canyon sophomore standout Sanskriti Sinha for a 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.

The Mustangs could not pull of a singles sweep, however, as junior Emerson Bonner was unable to unseat last season’s No. 1 singles state champion. Junior Caroline Daugherty — who claimed Valor Christian’s first individual state title last season — suffered her only loss during the regular season to Bonner; a three-set dual match in April and used that as a lesson.

“I learned that even if I start really strong, I have to keep that going because sometimes I let off,” Daugherty said. “I wasn’t able to regroup in that one, so it was a good lesson to stay on top of points.

“It’s been a good season, I feel like I had a lot of momentum coming off the title last year and I was able to just play freely and not worry about too much.”
 

Results

No. 1 Singles: Caroline Daugherty (Jr., Valor Christian) def. Emerson Bonner (Jr., Ralston Valley), 6-3, 6-2
No. 2 Singles: Scarlett Lutz (Jr., Ralston Valley) def. Sanskriti Sinha (So., Rock Canyon), 6-2, 2-6, 7-5
No. 3 Singles: Anna Curran (Fr., Ralston Valley) def. Zoe Hochstadt (Jr., Cherry Creek), 6-3, 6-0
No. 1 Doubles: Elena Sepesi and Zoey Hao (Cherry Creek) def. Adia Farling and Cassidy Gordon (Ralston Valley), 6-3, 6-3
No. 2 Doubles: Kylie Engelsman and Olivia Hendrickson (Ralston Valley) def. Karissa Manley and Elizabeth Harbaugh (Cherry Creek), 2-6, 6-2, 6-1
No. 3 Doubles: Mataya Farling and Julia Campbell (Ralston Valley) def. Dylan Milo and Sydney Wadsworth (Cherry Creek), 4-6, 6-1, 6-3
No. 4 Doubles: Kate Decker and Sophia Baig (Ralston Valley) def. Ashley Geoghegan and Chagajee Colburn (Cherry Creek), 6-2, 6-4