Mavis Edwards made a relentless run to the state championship match the last two weeks. It took a two-time state champion to stop her.
The freshman from Bayfield High School, who plays for Durango High School because BHS does not offer a tennis team, rolled to a regional championship a week ago and stormed through the first three rounds of the Colorado High School Activities Association Class 4A Girls Tennis State Tournament at Pueblo City Park. She reached the final match at No. 1 singles and had the tough task of playing defending champ Josie Schaffer, a sophomore from Kent Denver.
Edwards gave Schaffer the best match of any player all week, but it wasn’t enough in a 6-1, 6-2 loss. The Kent Denver star claimed her second consecutive 4A No. 1 singles title with the win.
“It was pretty tough,” Edwards said of the match.
For Edwards, the match capped off an incredible freshman season. She defeated state runner-up Sara Schoenbeck, a senior from Pueblo West, twice in the last week. The first came for a regional championship and the second was Friday in the state semifinals.
Edwards defeated Emma Gaydos of Lewis-Palmer 6-3, 6-1 in the first round Thursday. She quickly turned around and beat Mattie Kuntzelman of Discovery Canyon in three sets, 5-7, 7-6, 6-3, in the quarterfinals. Friday, Edwards took down Schoenbeck to get to Saturday’s final.
“I like how I was patient throughout all my matches,” Edwards said of her play at state. “I was consistent and wasn’t up and down.”
Durango’s No. 2 doubles team of Lily Chick and Emily West finished third in the state tournament. They fell in the state semifinals to the eventual state champion Cheyenne Mountain team of Ariana Arenson and Taylor Heinicke. But Chick and West defeated the Greeley West team of Alicia Cruz and Jana Serif in the playback semifinals and earned a spot in the third-place match.
Chick and West were push in a three-set match, but they came out on top of the Niwot team of Amanda Duquette and Erin O’Neil, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4.
That result helped the Demons finish in fifth place in the Class 4A team standings. Durango scored 26 points to finish two ahead of Niwot.
The team championship went to Cheyenne Mountain in emphatic fashion. The Indians scored 91 points and won every championship except No. 1 singles. Kent Denver was second with 46 points, Valor Christian was third with 39, and Palmer Ridge finished fourth with 31 points.
Edwards scored 14 points for the Demons. Chick and West scored eight. Maggie Hackett scored one point at No. 2 singles, Emma Hackett scored two at No. 3 singles, and Ruby Decora and Emma Jaber scored one point at No. 3 doubles.
“Durango is so energized and happy to have had this opportunity to have so many players at state and competing the way they did,” DHS assistant coach Vivian Edwards said. “To have three girls place was amazing.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
