SALT LAKE CITY — At this year's first practice in August, Lone Peak High girls tennis coach Roger Baumgartner handed his players wristbands with a Lone Peak logo and the phrase WE ARE ONE inscribed on them. All season long the Knights supported each other, cheered for one another, and on Friday, they celebrated winning one together as Lone Peak came on strong in Friday's semifinals and charged home to claim a 28-20 state title over Davis.
“These girls have just been incredible to work with this year,” Baumgartner said. “As good as they are at tennis they are even better human beings. You won’t find a better group of young ladies in the state and they are fun to be around.”
As Baumgartner and the Knights headed home Friday, the longtime Lone Peak coach said he knew it was going to come down to the No. 3 singles semifinal matchup between Davis’ Annecy Hanson and Lone Peak’s, Rachel Neeleman. This Davis vs. Lone Peak match was the only semifinal in which the Darts and Knights met and proved to be pivotal to the team title.
The Knights senior captain earned the 6-2, 6-4 win and went on to claim the 6A No. 3 singles state title.
“Davis is always so well positioned and I guess it was my turn to play Davis this year,” Neeleman said. “Once we started playing I started thinking if I don’t win the match then we don’t win state. I started playing really tight but came back through the whole set and won.”
Baumgartner noted that if that match had gone the other way, things could have turned out differently.
While the Darts finished second, Mackenzie Turley, who has two sisters at the University of Utah, claimed the No. 1 singles title with a win over Lone Peak’s No. 1 singles player, Daniella Aaron.
“I felt like I was playing really good and I was really confident going into it,” Turley said. “I wanted to win my state championship again and so going into it I was just had a lot of confidence.”
Lone Peak won titles at No. 2 singles (Anna Aaron)m No. 3 singles (Neeleman), No. 1 doubles (Lauryn Geddes and Josie Henderson) and No. 2 doubles, Sarah Major & Autumn Eaton.
"From the very start we came out with these little wristbands and we were focused,” Baumgartner said. “This is a sport where the juniors have been drug all over the state for tournaments but state is the first time they really get used to seeing each other's faces and supporting each other.”
The Knights and Darts dominated the 6A field and combined to win all five of the individual championships handed out Saturday at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City.
Team scores: Lone Peak 28, Davis 20, American Fork 6, Layton 6, Riverton 6, Pleasant Grove 5, Hillcrest 4, Bingham 3, Clearfield 2, Fremont 2, Northridge 1, Kearns 1, Taylorsville 1, Weber 1, Copper Hills 0