DENVER — With four matches down and a 2-2 team score at Denver Tennis Park on Tuesday, the fate of the Class 3A Girls Tennis Dual Team State Championship between No. 3 Prospect RIdge and No. 5 Colorado Academy hinged on No. 1 singles, No. 2 singles and No. 4 doubles.

Colorado Academy's Mira Leon had been in this position multiple times within the few days prior.

On Saturday, she won the No. 1 singles championship over Vail Christian’s Alexa Branch on the individual scale, then had to repeat the same feat against her during the team state tournament semifinals in Vail on Monday night.

That dual ran late into the night, so late that the Mustangs didn’t return home until 11:30 p.m. last night.

“I usually go to bed really, really late... I usually go to sleep at like 1 am anyway, so I figured it was fine,” Leon said, when asked about whether she was concerned about the quick turnaround between rounds. “I got coffee in the morning, I ate a lot, tried to refuel ... but yeah, I guess I was a little concerned.”

The first set against PRA’s Maya Anderson went as planned. Leon won 6-2, but quickly found herself down 5-2 in the second. She was still thinking about her recent matches with Branch, and called head coach Noah Tondre over to calm her down.

“My coach came over, which I owe it all to him, because I went over to the back fence and said a stupid joke,” Leon explained. “I hit a smile, and my mentality changed. One of my friends showed up in the stands, and I knew how bad I wanted it. We all wanted it."

His strategy, while a bit outside of the box, worked wonders, as Leon bounced back to win five-straight games to claim that match. Moments later, No. 4 doubles partners Claire Fisher and Emery Mikula secured the 4-2 victory for the Mustangs with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Dheetcha Krishnan and Lea Martell. 

The win marked the program’s second-ever team state title, with the first coming just two years prior. Tondre said he couldn’t have asked for a better opponent to share the experience with.

“Their program, in the last two years, has come up so good,” he said. “I love coaching against (PRA head coach Ari Finkelstein) just because it's fun. We just play tennis and it's always good and competitive. They beat us last year in the semis. They beat us again this year 4-3, and then we were lucky enough to beat them here today.”