Lehi Sports
Pioneer girls tennis gets 7th at State
Beky Beaton / Lehi Free Press
The Lehi High School girls tennis team earned 11 points in the 6A state tournament on Thursday (Oct. 2) and tied for seventh place with Mountain Ridge and Davis. The Pioneers advanced to the quarterfinals in three brackets but didn’t qualify anyone to continue for the final day.
In the First Singles competition, senior Sadie DeSpain earned the No. 5 seed and got a bye in the first round. She faced No. 12 Chloe Norris of Syracuse in the Round of 16 and easily defeated her 6-0, 6-1.
In the quarterfinals, DeSpain drew a familiar opponent in No. 4 Olivia Bishop of American Fork, who prevailed 6-2, 6-0 to end DeSpain’s appearance in the tournament.
In the No. 2 Singles bracket, junior Ella Gonzalez was the No. 10 seed. After a first-round bye, she was matched against No. 7 Ruchi Pawar of Corner Canyon in the Round of 16. Gonzalez put up a good fight, especially in the second set, but Pawar pulled it out 6-2, 6-4.
At Third Singles, sophomore Kinley Olson was ranked No. 7 and received a bye in the first round. She then took on No. 10 Macie Peterson of Farmington. They played a lively match, but Olson won 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals.
There she drew second-ranked Halle Kitchen of Lone Peak, who earned the opportunity to advance with a 6-0, 6-1 win.
The team of senior Ryah Nielson and junior Liberty Salcido were Lehi’s representatives in the No. 1 Doubles bracket and were designated the No. 10 seed. After skipping the first round, they faced the No. 7-seeded partners from Corner Canyon and were eliminated in a 2-6, 1-6 loss.
In Second Doubles, the Pioneers claimed the No. 8 seed with the duo of junior Breckyn Holindrake and sophomore Claire Thatcher. Advancing to the round of 16, they were paired against the No. 9 entrant from Westlake and sent them home with a 6-2, 6-2 victory.
They then drew the top seeds from Lone Peak in the quarterfinal round and bowed out 2-6, 0-6.
“We are so proud of how our team handled themselves under pressure, fought for every point, and advanced to the quarterfinals,” said Coach Christina Bowman.
“Seniors Sadie DeSpain at first singles and Ryah Nielson at first doubles have had four years of amazing growth in their games and it was exciting to see it come together for them at the state tournament,” the coach added.
