Judge Memorial and Ogden have fought fiercely enough for the 3A girls' state prep tennis titles in recent years, but the matchup of most interest can be found at the No. 1 singles.
Ogden won the battle - Nicky Wangsgard claimed the No. 1 singles crown for the second time in three years - but lost the war again, as Judge successfully defended its 1987 crown with a strong showing in Saturday's semifinals and finals at Brigham Young University.In winning the '88 3A championship, Judge finished with 26 team points, compared to 19 for Ogden, which claimed nine straight 3A crowns prior to 1987. Timpview finished third again this year with 12, as Provo and Sky View rounded out the top five.
Wangsgard faced '87 titlist Becky Markosian of Judge in a pairing that has been the No. 1 singles finals for three years, with Wangsgard winning the first in their championship series two years ago when both players were freshmen.
The two split the first two sets - Wangsgard the first and Markosian the second - with identical 6-4 scores. But Wangsgard broke her opponent's serve three times in the third and final set en route to another 6-4 match- and title-winning set.
Since both Wangsgard and Markosian are only juniors, most are expecting a fourth and final pairing of the two in the No. 1 singles next year.
Judge had clinched its second consecutive title quite early in the finals round, as Lisa Paal dispatched Ogden's Liz Alder in two sets, 7-5, 6-2, for the No. 2 singles. No matter that the next two titles went to Ogden - Wangsgard's three-set victory and Ogden's Anne Starley and Monica Allen downing Judge's Corrie Reilly and Stephanie Tonin for the No. 1 doubles - Judge had mathematically clinched the team title, with representatives remaining in the two final matches against non-Ogden opponents.
In the No. 2 doubles, Judge's Erin Gamble and Una Pett took a two-set victory over Sky View's Tammy Hansen and Janelle Egbert, 6-4, 6-4.
The marathon match proved to be the No. 3 singles, where Chelsea Deakins needed three sets - 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 - to defeat Timpview's Amy Overton. Overton ended up playing a ton of tennis Saturday, since her three-set semifinal victory against Ogden's Jill Starley took more than 31/2 hours to complete.
Judge's Paal and Deakins repeated as defending singles titlists, having won their respective singles competitions last year.
Judge had entered Saturday's final two rounds of competition tied with Timpview in team points - 10 each. Ogden trailed at 9, with Provo having 8.
By the end of the morning's semifinals, Judge's total had increased to 20, with Ogden second at 16 and Provo up to 12.