DENVER | Freshman Francesca Johnson made history for the Vista PEAK girls tennis program by becoming its first qualifier for the Class 4A state tournament.
Johnson earned her way into the championship match at the 4A Region 2 tournament at Kent Denver and despite a loss Lila Moldenhauer of the host Sun Devis, earned the region’s second spot in the May 11-13 individual state tournament at Pueblo City Park.
Johnson came into the tournament as the No. 3 seed and opened play Thursday with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Aurora Central’s Ruby Rodriguez, the No. 7 seed. That put Johnson up against second-seeded Olivia Carter of Denver South in the semifinals and she prevailed 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 to qualify for Friday’s championship match.
Moldenhauer didn’t drop a game in either of her first two regional matches and she also topped Johnson 6-0, 6-0, but Johnson avoided a playback when Carter won the third-place match over Littleton’s Luci Brendlinger, who could have challenged Johnson had she won.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports