5A Girls Tennis: Ralston Valley Repeats as Dual Team State Champion

DENVER – The Ralston Valley girls tennis team has gone back-to-back.

On Tuesday at Denver Tennis Park, the top-seeded and defending champion Mustangs won 4-2 in the dual-tournament finals against No. 2 Cherry Creek. It was Ralston Valley’s second straight title and second overall for the program’s history.

“This was the first time ever having kind of a bigger target on our backs,” Mustangs head coach Kim Greason said. “We’ve always been one of the stronger teams, but not at the peak. So, we knew we had this huge target on our back. We just had to play the match in front of us and then when we got to this point, it was, ‘Just do what you’ve been doing.’

“It’s great because we have three seniors that were there last year when we got a state title… last year, that was a little bit of a surprise to us. This was the one where we were saying we were going to have to defend a lot more pressure. But a lot of the girls have been saying that pressure is a privilege.”

At No. 1 singles, Ralston Valley’s Emerson Bonner won 7-6, 6-0 over Maddy Hochstadt.

The No. 2 singles match between Ralston Valley’s Scarlette Lutz and Cherry Creek’s Autumn Doyle was not completed.

At No. 3 singles, Ralston Valley’s Anna Curran won 6-2, 6-0 against Coe Hochstadt.

At No. 1 doubles, Cherry Creek’s Zeo Hao and Elena Seeps won 6-1, 7-6 over Adia Farling and Cassidy Gordon.  At No. 2 doubles, Cherry Creek’s Karissa Manley and Lizze Harbaugh won 6-2, 7-6 against Kylie Engelsman and Olivia Hendrickson.

At No. 3 doubles, Ralston Valley’s Julia Campbell and Mataya Farling won 6-3, 6-1 over Dylan Milo and Sophia Baig.  At No. 4 doubles, Ralston Valley’s Kate Decker and Sophia Baig won 6-3, 6-4 over Ashley Geohegan and Chagajee Colburnin in what was the deciding victory of the evening.

“There was definitely a lot of pressure, especially knowing that our two singles was kind of coming down to it a little bit,” Baig said. “But we just had to block all that out, look at the bright side and lock in.”

Decker added, “It wasn’t just us. The three matches before us were just as important. I know we got the game-winning match, those matches were just as important.

Cherry Creek, which was runner-up last season, is the all-time leader in girls tennis team titles with 39.