The Durango High School girls tennis team ended its season on a high note with all 11 players competing at state, and sophomore Ella Claassen took of advantage of the stage to show she can compete with the best players in Colorado.
Claassen finished third in No. 2 singles to lead the Demons at the 4A individual state tournament at Pueblo City Park on Thursday-Saturday. Durango had four either players or doubles pairings make it to the quarterfinals in their respective brackets to complete a season full of growth and success for a young Demon team.
“We're excited about it,” Durango head coach Darren Tarshis said. “It was a big deal to just make it to Saturday. The only matches on Saturday are the championships and the third-place matches. This is only the third time we've had a position make it to Saturday in the last 10 years … We’re proud of her for that, and then pulling out the win today (Saturday).”
Durango had to drive through a snowstorm to get to Pueblo, but once the Demons got there, they had ideal conditions with temperatures in the mid-70s and sunny, with only a little wind on the first day, according to Tarshis.
Junior Natalie Christensen competed in No. 1 singles for the Demons at state. She won her first round match against Ava Andrada from Pueblo East, 6-4, 7-6, before losing in the quarterfinals to Aristea Fulgenzi from Windsor, 2-6, 4-6, and Christensen was tied 4-4 in that second set. That loss sent Christensen into the playback bracket semifinals, where she lost to Lilly Evans from Mullen, 3-6, 4-6.
“I was proud of her getting through the first round,” Tarshis said about Christensen. “She had a tough Pueblo opponent who was a senior and very competitive … She really challenged some of the top players at the tournament … She's improved a lot from last year, and it's kind of hard for her to maybe notice because she's going against some really tough competition, but she's … definitely in that top group of players at state.”
Claassen started out her journey through the No. 2 singles bracket by beating Thomas Jefferson’s SophieAnn Scott, 6-3, 6-0 in the first round. Claassen then beat Discovery Canyon’s Myah Shoptaugh in the quarterfinals, 6-1, 6-1.
The Durango sophomore then ran into a buzz saw in eventual No. 2 singles champion Alyssa Sadri from Cheyenne Mountain. Claassen lost 6-0, 6-0. Cheyenne Mountain is one of the best girls tennis schools in the state, and Tarshis said Sadri was a former No. 1 player who got bumped down to No. 2 because of how competitive Cheyenne Mountain is. Sadri would be a No. 1 player at nearly every other school. She only lost one game in the entire state tournament.
In the playback bracket, Claassen won her playback semifinals against Sylvie Wilcox from Longmont, 6-2, 6-1. Claassen then played in the third-place match on Saturday, beating Grace DeHerrera from Grand Junction, 6-1, 6-2. Tarshis was proud of how Claassen showed composure on the big stage, especially against DeHerrera, a player she’d faced twice before this season.
Junior Annabeth Hanson finished her season for the Demons in the first round of No. 3 singles, losing to Mia Baatz from Windsor, 6-1, 7-5.
Durango’s No. 1 doubles pairing of senior Madelyn Agre and sophomore Piper Reese won in the first round against Taylor Meinen and Emma George from Windsor. The Demon duo then lost to Kent Denver’s Hallie Silverman and Claire Bookmyer in the quarterfinals, 1-6, 2-6.
The Demons’ No. 2 doubles pairing of junior Nicolina Lasher and Iris Gamble lost in the first round to Air Academy’s Lexie Lueckman and Ava Martin.
Junior Zoe Boespflug and sophomore Willa Rider had a super competitive tournament in the No. 3 doubles. The Demons pair won their first-round matchup over Mullen’s Jane Prall and Ruby Shaw in three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5. Boespflug and Rider then lost a close three-set match against Air Academy’s Kinley Kilcoyne and Harper Young, 4-6, 6-4, 4-6.
After that loss, the Demon duo won in their first playback match against Thompson Valley’s Madison Evig and Caroline Aiken, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, before losing to Cheyenne Mountain’s Ruth Ringer and Ayva Bonicelli in the playback semifinals.
“They played three of the top four teams in the state in that tournament ... they were close every match,” Tarshis said about Boespflug and Rider. “So those two probably had the most court time of almost any players I've ever brought to that tournament ... That's not a level that we see in Durango a lot during our season, so it's kind of the first time, seeing some of the pace and the spin, and they adjusted really well.
The No. 4 doubles pairing of junior Sophia Dainty-Guilfoyle and sophomore Georgia Barrow lost to Windsor’s Brielle Pohlen and Elsa Gilmore, 4-6, 1-6.
The Demons should be in position next year to have more players competing on Saturday at state. They’ll only lose Agre to graduation and should return everyone else from a team that gained a lot of valuable experience.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
