It has felt like a long season for the Rowland Hall boys tennis team.
Coach Rich Francey admitted it started long before the first match. He knew this squad might be one of the best in his lengthy career, so he filled it with 6A and 5A opponents. The Winged Lions played competitively each time and then marched through their region schedule.
But how would they fare against other 3A teams? Would any of that mean anything without a state title?
Fortunately, it didn’t matter as the Winged Lions claimed four individual crowns to win their third state championship in the last four years Saturday at Liberty Park.
Rowland Hall finished with 61 points to outduel rival Waterford (35), followed by American Heritage Academy (33), Morgan (25) and Juab and Logan (18).
“We had that unusual weather in March,” Francey said. “It was warmer in March than it was at state (today). We wanted to play as many good teams as we could but we had no idea how we would match up with the other 3As until this week.”
It turned out that Rowland Hall dominated.
Hans Baker won the second state crown of his career, this time in No. 2 singles, and teammate Evan Owens followed in No. 3 singles.
When Eric Brown and Henry Damico downed Eli Dopp/Joel Cefalia of South Sevier in No. 2 doubles, Rowland Hall knew it would carry another trophy home and had the rest of the afternoon to celebrate in cloudy, 70-degree weather conditions.
Francey said he was also pleased with his No. 1 singles player, Noah Ostrander. Just a freshman, Ostrander finished a fine season with two wins before falling to Moore in the semifinals.
Not surprisingly, it gave Francey another reason to think his team should be good again next season.
“We were in the finals in four events, so it was a good day,” he said. “I only wish Duke (O’Neil) could have finished off his match and win (at state) because he has been so close many times.”
Elsewhere, American Heritage’s Tanner Peterson showed his top seed in No. 1 singles was no fluke as he sailed through the tournament, losing just one set, and put the finishing touch on a fine day with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Macksten Moore of Waterford.
Then, the day ended with an inspirational effort by the team of Derrek Nguyen and Braxton Day of Maeser Prep in No. 1 doubles. Nguyen-Day actually lost the first set 6-3 to Rowland Hall’s Murat Akkor and O’Neil and then Day suffered an injury that caused a prolonged delay while a trainer taped his right ankle.
O’Neil hobbled the rest of the match but the duo still rallied to win the next two games 7-5 and 6-4 to have something to celebrate.