Steamboat Springs won every Class 4A Region 8 girls tennis championship match but one Friday. That one went to a senior from Durango.
Kit Hackett claimed the No. 3 singles championship at the regional tournament Friday in Grand Junction with a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Steamboat Springs’ Emmie Thompson.
The win qualified Hackett for next week’s state tournament in Pueblo.
“She won, and she won handedly,” DHS head coach Dave Weisfeldt said. “She’s playing the best tennis I’ve seen her play, and what a time to do it, too.”
Hackett began to find success this season as recently as last week in a duals tournament in Montrose. She went 3-0 in matches that weekend with newfound weapons in her arsenal.
“She’s adding a slice here and there, knowing when to play defensive or when to step in and take the shot,” Weisfeldt said. “The experience she gained before this weekend really helped, because those aren’t things you want to experiment with in a high-pressure match.
“In this match, she had a variety of different approaches, was placing her shots and exploited her opponent’s weaknesses.”
Also qualifying for the state tournament for the Demons was twin sisters Chloe and Emily West. The sophomores lost their No. 4 doubles championship match to Steamboat Springs and had to face Montrose for second place in the region and the chance to go to state.
The West’s kept their composure after the 6-4, 6-0 loss to Steamboat and went on to beat Montrose 6-1, 6-2.
“Really happy to see them defend a playback challenge and get the chance to go to state with us,” Weisfeldt said.
DHS finished fourth out of 10 teams in the tournament, narrowly behind third-place Aspen.
Steamboat Springs won the region, with Montrose finishing second.
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