Lehi Sports
Falcon girls tennis 3rd at State, Armstrong nets gold
Beky Beaton / Lehi Free Press
The Skyridge High School girls tennis team’s streak of 6A state championships ended at five as the Falcons finished a close third at this year’s tournament on Saturday (Oct. 4) in Salt Lake City.
The event was hampered by rainstorms and moved between multiple venues. It didn’t finish until well into the evening.
Lone Peak added their eighth title in this sport with 61 points. Their previous streak of three consecutive titles was ended by Skyridge in 2020. American Fork scored 43 points to finish second, edging the Falcons at 40 points. Bingham was a distant fourth at 28 points.
In the individual bracket races, Skyridge senior Andi Armstrong entered as the No. 2 seed at No. 1 Singles but powered through the tournament, easily defeating opponents from Farmington (#15), Mountain Ridge (#7) and Lone Peak (#3) to qualify to play for the championship.
Armstrong outlasted top-ranked sophomore Kamryn Newman of Bingham, 6-3, 6-3 in the final to earn the gold medal and the implied title of best player in the classification.
The Falcons claimed silver in the First Doubles competition as well. Junior Molly Jarvie and senior Elizabeth Ludlow entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed and topped No. 15 Riverton 6-3, 6-3; No. 7 Corner Canyon 6-4, 7-5; and No. 3 American Fork in a long match 6-0, 2-6, 6-3.
The Skyridge duo then faced off against the No. 1 pair from Lone Peak, seniors Emmeline Smith and Ruby Bautista, and the Knights prevailed 6-1, 6-0.
In No. 2 Singles, freshman Kiri Sperry was the Falcon representative. She started out by beating the No. 14 from Westlake handily and then survived a marathon against the No. 6 from Davis 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.
She competed well in the semifinal against No. 2 Eden Conley of Lone Peak, but the Knight pulled out the 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win to advance to the championship round.
At Third Singles, Skyridge entered junior Addison Uffens as the fourth seed. Her first opponent was the No. 13 from Westlake. She lost the first set 3-6 but recovered and won the match 7-5, 6-1. She bowed out in the quarterfinals to the No. 5 from Corner Canyon, who prevailed 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 to move on.
In the No. 2 Doubles bracket, the Falcon senior pair of Adelyn Peck and Launi Menke earned the No. 2 ranking.
They moved on to the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over No. 15 Layton and a 6-0, 6-1 result over the No. 7 team from Farmington.
The opponents in the next round were the No. 3 duo of Demi Dalton and Rylee Egbert from American Fork. The match was a barnburner, but the Cavemen prevailed 7-5, 7-5.
“The team did great this year,” said Coach Ben Armstrong. “After graduating all but one of our state players from last year, to take third place as a team is a great accomplishment. I’m super proud of all the girls.
“It was also amazing to see Andi Armstrong be the mental demon that she can be, which allowed her to play her game and take out the No. 1 seed in the finals to win it all,” he added.
