Winning state tennis championships is getting to be commonplace for Skyridge High School.
Despite being only six years old, Skyridge won its third straight girls title in Utah’s largest classification (6A), and senior Lili Broadbent and sophomore Naomi Johnson put the finishing touch on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City.
Skyridge won both doubles titles to offset the talent other schools had in singles play, and earned 56 points in the UHSAA’s new scoring system.
Layton finished second with 40 points, followed by Farmington’s 33. Region 4 mates Lone Peak and American Fork had 29 and 27 points, respectively.
Broadbent had never made it to state until this year, always falling just short against the fine region competition in northern Utah County.
This year, she and Johnson dominated their early foes in No. 2 doubles, but after winning the first set 6-4 over Lone Peak’s Haley Frame and Kylie Willardson Saturday, they looked frustrated after falling behind 5-2 in the second, and coach Ben Armstrong pulled them aside.
“Even if you’re down, you’re never out of it,” was Armstrong’s advice.
“The way the girls handled adversity was the difference,” he added.
“This was my last match and I wanted to go out happy,” said Broadbent. “I was playing both excited and angry. When I was excited, I was playing well; when I was angry, I was hurting us. Coach just told me to play more evenly.”
Even though the team title was already settled, both Skyridge and Lone Peak fans waited to see the outcome, and the Broadbent-Johnson squad earned the final five points.
Skyridge’s Savannah Johnson and Kaia Sperry also won in No. 1 doubles. With the UHSAA’s new scoring system, which allowed players to earn one point for their team in the play-in round followed by two points in the first round, three points in the quarterfinals, four in the semis and five in the championship round, the doubles teams accumulated 30 points — more than one-half of the team total.
The Falcons’ doubles dominance also allowed them to overshadow an impressive performance by Farmington’s Anna Frey, a freshman who won in straight sets — 6-0, 6-0 — in her first three matches and rolled past Layton’s Tia Christopulos and Skyridge’s Bella Lewis Saturday to possibly claim to be Utah’s best high school singles player.
Victoria Cooksey and Tana Christopulos of Layton won in second and third singles, but the Lancers couldn’t get past the second round in doubles play or they could have challenged Skyridge.
6A GIRLS STATE TENNIS TOURNAMENT
TEAM SCORES
1, Skyridge 56. 2, Layton 40. 3, Farmington 33. 4, Lone Peak 29. 5, American Fork 27. 6, West 21. 7, Riverton 13. 8, Corner Canyon 12. 9, Herriman, Pleasant Grove 9. 11, Davis 7. 12, Weber 6. 13, Bingham 5. 14, Mountain Ridge, Westlake 4. 16, Copper Hills, Fremont 2. 18, Clearfield, Granger, Kearns, Syracuse 1.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
No. 1 Singles
Semifinals – Anna Frey (Farmington) def. Tia Christopulos (Layton) 6-1, 6-2. Bella Lewis (Skyridge) def. Alexandra Burnett (West) 6-0, 6-2. Championship – Frey def. Lewis 5-7, 6-1, 6-0.
No. 2 Singles
Semifinals – Riya Soneji (West) def. Malia Bishop (American Fork) 6-0, 6-4. Victoria Cooksey (Layton) def. Kylee Sperry (Skyridge) 6-3, 6-4. Championship – Cooksey def. Soneji 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
No. 3 Singles
Semifinals – Tana Christopulos (Layton) def. Liberty Hardy (American Fork) 6-0, 6-0. Andi Armstrong (Skyridge) def. Hadley Frost (Farmington) 6-2, 7-5. Championship – Christopulos def. Armstrong 6-1, 6-2.
No. 1 Doubles
Semifinals – Savannah Johnson-Kaia Sperry (Skyridge) def. Eliza Peterson-Kate Geddes (Farmington) 6-2, 6-1. Sydney Gardner-Mia Black (Lone Peak) def. Calli Condie-Milly Wood (American Fork) 6-0, 6-1. Championship – Johnson-Sperry def. Gardner-Black 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.
No. 2 Doubles
Semifinals – Lili Broadbent-Naomi Johnson (Skyridge) def. Mia Judd-Eisley Nestman (Corner Canyon) 6-2, 6-3. Haley Frame-Kylie Willardson (Lone Peak) def. Ellie Lind-Claire Griffin (American Fork) 6-0, 6-1. Championship – Broadbent-Johnson def. Frame-Willardson 6-4, 7-5.