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Fred Edwards wins regional, punches ticket to state tennis tournament

Junior wins his second regional tennis championship

A year after being a last-minute replacement at the state tournament, Fred Edwards made sure to solidify his seed well ahead of time.

Edwards, a junior at Bayfield High School who competes for Durango High School, won the Class 4A Region 8 boys tennis tournament at the No. 1 singles position with a 6-1, 6-3 win against Dillon Leasure of Aspen. Regionals were held in Grand Junction.

The win earned Edwards an automatic bid to the state tournament in Pueblo.

“My backhand was doing pretty good. It was a fun match,” Edwards said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “I pretty much knew I was going to state this year. Regionals was sort of a warm-up and state is the main event.”

Edwards is the lone Demon to qualify for the state tournament this season. All four of the Durango doubles teams took fourth place after losing matches to Vail Mountain. Durango’s other two singles players were eliminated Thursday.

“Fourth place was kind of the team motto here. We lost to all the ski towns, Steamboat, Aspen and Vail,” DHS head coach Dave Weisfeldt said. “We were competitive with Vail, but they were too strong.”

Edwards won’t know his seed for the state tournament until the middle of the week. Until then, he will focus on getting some tough hitting partners on the court the sharpen his game.

“We’re going to get him hitting against different styles, because you never know what you will see at state,” Weisfeldt said. “You never know if you’re going to face a baseliner or someone rushing the net.”

Edwards also won the regional tournament as a freshman, and this will be the junior’s third consecutive trip to state.

“I’ve got a lot of friends up there and kids I’ve played a lot of tennis with,” the son of Paul and Vivian Edwards said. “It’s fun to see them and play them, too. I’m excited, because I’d rather play good competition than walk all over a kid.”

jlivingston@durangoherald.com

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