Shelby Reardon / Steamboat Pilot and Today
Five lines from the Steamboat Springs women’s tennis team have progressed through the Regional 3A Tournament and will compete in the Colorado High School Activities Association State Tennis Championship.
Competing in the regionals on Thursday May 4 and Friday May 5 at Grand Junction, all seven steamboat lines won a medal, with the sailors winning two bronze, four silver and one gold.
The success is a complete turnaround from last season for head coach Bill Conway, who has a young group of athletes who have continued to exceed all expectations.
“Last year we didn’t field an entire team and that says a lot about the freshman class,” Conway said. “The upper classes supervise these children and accompany them. They’re such a fun group to coach.
Freshman Lucia Del Haya dominated her way through the No. 1 singles and set up a clinic against Vail Christian senior Annika Iverson in the first-place match.
Conway is very impressed with how Del Haya has matured as a player over the past two months. He constantly gives advice on finding patterns in opponents and finding weakness and Del Haya did just that to become a regional champion.
“Watching her and listening to all the coaching we’ve done with her over time and being able to analyze a player and go and execute her is just amazing at 14,” Conway said.
Junior Grace Brice went on a read for second place, losing the first set and facing three match points before coming back to win the match and advance to the state championships.
The three pairs of steamers to move to state include No. 1 junior doubles team Evan Quinn and Kelsey Norland, No. 2 junior doubles players Amanda Dietrich and freshman Evan Quinn, and Kayla O’Brien senior and freshman team No. 3. Leslie Jiménez.
The state competition will begin Thursday, May 11 and run through Saturday, May 13. Conway hopes to iron out any remaining issues over the next few days before the team travels to Colorado Springs on Wednesday, May 10.
He has seen improvement in every line and expects great things from the state. Her daughters are ready to compete.
“This team has been incredible in character and performance,” Conway said. “If you look at the last two weeks, we’ve finished eighth in the state in team 3A, then in the individual team we’re sending five lines of sevens to play state.”
To reach Tom Skulski, call 970-871-4240, email tskulski@SteamboatPilot.com.
