At the beginning of the final round of the 4A state tennis championships, the Bountiful Braves knew they only needed to win one of four matches to claim their second outright championship in three years.
So when the Braves' first three matches ended in three quick losses at the hands of Highland, and the Rams pulled even with the Braves, Bountiful tennis coach Jack Senninger knew the championship was still theirs to lose.
He had his secret weapons: His undefeated sophomore No. 2 doubles team of Quinn Allred and Michael Nestman were still on the court.
"They won it as freshmen, so I was pretty confident they would do it again," Senninger said. "If you can't count on the defending state champions, then who can you count on?"
So, without knowing the championship rested on their shoulders, Allred and Nestman calmly dispatched East's Eli Eyre and James Warner, 7-5, 6-2, to win their second straight state doubles championship while a bringing 4A state championship to the Braves.
"It was awesome to do it for the team," Allred said. "It's a giant rush to be undefeated for two years."
"We already had first place," Senninger said. " We just wanted to make it a solo win, not a shared championship."
Bountiful finished with 20 points to Highland's 18. East came in third with 12 points.
The Highland Rams knew their only chance of claiming a share of the championship was to win all of their matches in the championship round.
Highland's James Ludlow defeated Bountiful's Andrew Marsh in a tough No. 1 singles match, 6-4, 6-4. Highland's Victor Blocher dispatched Bountiful's Matt Allen, 7-5, 6-1. Highland's brother tandem of Jackson and Jordan Owen beat Bountiful's Scott Malan and Marc Lindley, 6-3, 6-3.
But Bountiful's advantage in final round entrants proved to be decisive.
" I feel like we were the real champions," said Highland coach Brian Monson. "(Bountiful) had some crucial wins early on that gave them the championship, but our team did every thing they could to win the title. "
East's John Brown defeated West's Mike Schwartz for the No. 3 singles crown.
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