Staying true to her tennis roots and pursuits all summer, now-graduated Bayfield cross-country star Eva-Lou Edwards most recently took her mettle to the Salt Lake City, Utah, area for this week's four-day U.S. Tennis Association Intermountain Level 4 Summer Masters.
Battling through the Girls' 18 Singles bracket at the Cottonwood Country Club in the suburb of Holladay, Edwards fell 6-2, 6-0 in the Round of 32 to Chloe Henderson of Las Vegas, but then bounced back on the consolation side with a love-and-two triumph over Lauren Allen of Alpine, Utah.
Also competing in the single-elimination Girls' 18 Doubles, Edwards and partner Hannah Jones of Ogden, Utah went out in the Round of 16, 8 to 3, against the Idaho duo of Boise's Bianca Mok and Eagle's Skylar Schossberger.
The Intermountain Tennis Association-one of the USTA's 17 sections-is comprised of Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Wyoming, and its Level 4 Masters series is geared towards players experienced at the district, but hungry for higher-profile action.
Each ITA district has two such Level 5 events; Edwards took part in the May event held in Colorado Springs. Also competing in Utah was Edwards' brother Fred, who also played the Level 5 event, but further north in Denver.
Playing in Boys' 16 Singles and seeded #14 overall, Fred Edwards got off to a great start with matching 6-0, 6-0 dominations of Stockton Aubrey and Nicholas Sepulveda, both of Utah, in the Rounds of 64 and 32, respectively. But in the Round of 16, 6-seed Jonathan Ben-Rey of Las Vegas not only managed to take a game from Edwards, but the whole match, 6-4 and 6-0.
Edwards-who represented Durango at last fall's Class 4A State Championships (qualifying for No. 2 Singles) as a freshman-recovered to then defeat Miller Silbey of Las Vegas 6-2 in his first consolation-round set, but then succumbed in the next two, 6-2 and 6-1.
In 16 Doubles he was paired with Jeremiah Hansen of Colorado Springs, and the team began play together with an 8-4 win. Unfortunately, the third-seeded pair then ousted Edwards/Hansen 8 to 2 in the quarterfinals.
The Summer Masters' last matches were completed late Wednesday afternoon.
