Prep notebook: Vail Christian girls tennis captures No. 2 doubles title at 3A championships

The Vail Christian girls tennis team brought home another state title over the weekend.

Camden Allen and Iris Blanch defeated Eaton’s Aya Kinoshita and Evelyn South 6-3, 7-6 to claim the No. 2 doubles crown at the 3A individual state tournament, held May 7-9 at Memorial Park in Colorado Springs. The pair became the program’s seventh and eighth state champions in the last four years.

“We knew that this weekend was going to be hard,” stated Allen, a sophomore. “We also knew that if we played as well as we could, we would have a great chance to win.”

Last year, Alexa Blanch won the No. 2 singles title for Vail Christian. Her brother, Daniel, also won a No. 2 singles title in 2023, the same year Heidi Iverson and Sofia Elalayli captured the crown at No. 4 doubles and Aria Webster and Kamryn Mitchell topped the No. 2 doubles bracket.

This spring, the Saints qualified all seven lines to state for the fifth-straight year. Three made it to their respective championship matches on Saturday. Alexa Blanch took runner-up honors to Mira Leon at No. 1 singles and Sabrina Nabonsal and Paige Asbury claimed silver in No. 3 doubles. Meanwhile, Heidi Iverson stormed back from a second-round loss in the No. 2 singles bracket. The senior won her first and second playback games to earn a spot in the third-place match — where she defeated Amelia Major 6-1, 6-2.

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“This past weekend was so great and it’s so fun to see how many medals we came out with,” Iverson stated.

Ella Pecinka had a similar story, working her way through the playback rounds before falling to Kate Gittlein 7-5, 6-4 in the No. 3 singles bronze medal match. Olivia Zajac and Autumn Woods finished third at No. 1 doubles and the Saint’s No. 4 doubles team of Charly Landa and Corbynn Leonard were ousted in the second round.

“I’m so proud of how hard every single one of these girls have worked,” stated assistant coach Kirsten Webster.

Vail Christian was the No. 1 seed in the team state tennis tournament, but fell to No. 5 Colorado Academy 4-3 at Homestead Court Club on Monday. The Mustangs went on to win their second team state title in three years the following day in Denver.

Other prep notes: Battle Mountain boys lacrosse falls in state quarterfinals

• The No. 7-seeded Battle Mountain boys lacrosse team lost to No. 2 Evergreen 6-4 on Tuesday in the 4A state quarterfinal match. The Huskies led 2-0 after the first quarter but the Cougars clawed back to tie things up by halftime. Carter Shonk, Asher Leonard, Finn Lunde and Logan Roach all scored goals for Battle Mountain while Teagan Larsen and Asher Drummet added an assist apiece. The Huskies finished the season with a 12-5 record.
• Four Eagle County prep golfers made the 84-athlete 3A state tournament field, released on Monday. Eagle Valley’s Julia Borejszo and Claire Walker will join Battle Mountain seniors Keena Shikverg and Makena Thayer at The Foothills Golf Course in Denver for the two-day tournament, which starts on May 18. Borejszo finished 36th in her first state appearance last year while Thayer has come in fourth two years in a row and earned all-state recognition all three years of her career. Qualifications were based off iWanamaker ranking, which considered athletes’ best five regular season rounds. Thayer was ranked eighth in the final list while Boreszjo, Walker and Shikverg were 35th, 42nd and 82nd, respectively.