DENVER | With a lot of lineup shuffling, especially in the first few weeks of the season, senior Rebecca Gelfer ended up in the No. 3 singles position for the long haul of the 2025 campaign.
She finished as the third-best performer in the entire state in the largest classification, as she earned third place at the Class 5A girls tennis individual state tournament Saturday morning at the Denver Tennis Park.
Gelfer played five matches over the three days of the tournament and won four of them, capped by a 6-3, 6-3, victory over Rocky Mountain sophomore Ainsley Cunningham. That result led the way for coach Jen Armstrong’s Raiders, who also got a fourth-place finish at No. 3 doubles from senior Brooklyn Craven and sophomore Abigail Puschaver.
Gelfer played last season at No. 1 singles and started the season there again until freshman standout Madeline Dickey returned from injury and earned the top spot, while junior Otylia Martino secured the No. 2 spot after moving up from No. 3 last season.
Once she got settled, Gelfer racked up 15 wins in 17 matches in the No. 3 spot and suffered just one loss at the individual state tournament (to Cherry Creek’s Zoe Hochstadt in the semifinals) on her way to claiming a medal.
Injuries and shuffling also played a role in doubles play for Regis Jesuit and Craven and Puschaver finally ended up together after playing a number of early tournaments with different partners. The duo lost just three times in the 17 matches they played together and that included one loss to the 5A runner-up team of Mataya Farling and Julia Campbell of Ralston Valley and two to the Valor Christian team of Reese Bieser and Bayley Bowers.
Bieser and Bowers defeated the Regis Jesuit team 6-3, 6-1 in the third place match, which put the Raiders at 3-2 for the tournament.
Regis Jesuit had all three singles players and all four doubles qualify for individual state and five of them won at least one match.
Dickey and Martino got playback chances after wins in the first round and losses in the quarterfinals when the opponents that dealt them their loss (eventual state champion Caroline Daugherty of Valor Christian in Dickey’s case and state runner-up Sanskriti Sinha of Rock Canyon in Martino’s) made it to the finals. Both also won a playback match, but lost in the consolation semifinals.
The No. 4 doubles team of freshman Rachel Osborn and senior Sophia Simoes won their first round match and lost in the quarterfinals with no playback chance, while the No. 1 doubles team of senior Cait Carolan and junior Lily Beebe lost a three-set first round match and did not get a playback, same as the No. 2 doubles team of senior Molly Goodwin and junior Helen Adams.
Grandview’s state representation came from sophomore Ella Vail and junior Bethany Savacool and the duo got just one match, which they lost 6-1, 6-3 to Regis Jesuit’s Craven and Puschaver, whose subsequent loss kept the Wolves out of playbacks.
The same fate befell the Cherokee Trail No. 3 doubles team of freshman Lillian Wilson and junior Aninkaely Madeje, who fell 6-0, 6-2 to Fossil Ridge’s Rhaya Rodgers and Sophie Williams, who subsequently lost next round.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
