The Durango High School girls tennis team sent three singles players and three doubles teams to the Colorado High School Activities Association Class 4A State Championships, and all but one of the doubles teams made it out of the first round Thursday at City Park in Pueblo.
The Demons sit in a tie for fifth place after the first round and quarterfinals with seven points. Also in fifth are Kent Denver and Mullen.
Niwot, which last won a state title in 2008, leads the team field with 21 points after the Cougars advanced all three singles players and four doubles teams out of the quarterfinals. Nine-time defending champion Cheyenne Mountain is right behind Niwot with 18 points. Palmer Ridge is third with nine points and Valor Christian is fourth with eight points.
In the first round, Bayfield sophomore Mavis Edwards, last year’s state runner-up, at No. 1 singles moved into the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-1 win against Zoe Love of Evergreen. In the quarterfinals, Edwards met Savannah Leifer of Coronado and rolled into the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-1 victory.
In the semifinals, which will get underway Friday morning, Edwards will face freshman Lucy Lu of Niwot.
On the other side of the bracket are two-time defending state champion Josie Schaffer, a Kent Denver junior who beat Edwards in the final a year ago, and Cheyenne Mountain junior Morgan Hall.
In No. 2 singles, Durango junior Emma Hackett advanced out of the first round with a 7-5, 6-3 win against Evergreen junior Alexa Endsley. In the quarterfinals, Hackett’s second season in a row playing in the quarterfinals, she went up against Niwot senior Taylor Thulson and fell 6-1, 6-3.
Durango junior Lily Chick, in No. 3 singles, battled senior Ava McQuade of Loveland through three sets and came back from a first-set loss to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. She met Longmont junior Taylor Merz in the quarterfinals and lost 6-0, 6-0.
Chick and Hackett will next play in the playback bracket Friday, but their opponents have not been named.
Durango’s No. 1 and No. 3 doubles teams also made it out of the first round, but fell in the quarterfinals.
In No. 1 doubles, the team of Rebecca Bowers and Emma Jaber pulled out a three-set win against Evergreen’s Jen Lawrence and Saphie Potts 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 to advance to face Cheyenne Mountain’s Jensen Enterman and Taylor Heinicke in the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, the duo from Cheyenne Mountain was victorious 6-0, 6-3.
Durango’s No. 3 doubles team of Laura Clark and Mira Joyner moved out of the first round with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win against Emily Brozovich and Abby Whorton of Green Mountain. The Demons’ duo met Niwot’s Maedee Trank-Green and Catherine Xiao in the quarterfinals and fell 6-2, 6-1.
DHS’ No. 2 doubles team of Camille Jacobs and Emma Vogel lost 6-1, 6-0 to Emily Black and Kaitlin Morris in the first round.
Semifinals and playback matches are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Friday at Pueblo City Park.
kschneider@durangoherald.com
