GREENWOOD VILLAGE | Francesca Johnson qualified for the individual state tournament as a freshman when the Vista PEAK Prep girls tennis team was in Class 4A.
Now a junior, Johnson — her school’s first and only state qualifier thus far — went undefeated during the regular season as the Bison moved up to 5A and she had to go through a strong field at the Region 2 tournament to make state in the new classification.
It turned out that the only loss she suffered the entire season — a three-set semifinal against ThunderRidge freshman Sybil Shehryar Wednesday — kept her out of state. Johnson defeated Fort Collins’ Taylor Alcaraz 6-3, 6-4 in Thursday’s third-place match, but she did not get a playback chance for a spot in the 5A individual state tournament.
Johnson needed Shehryar — who defeated her 6-2, 7-6, 5-7 in three epic sets in the semifinals — to defeat top-seeded Madeline Hochstadt of Cherry Creek in the finals to get a playback. Hochstadt won in straight sets, however, and both finalists advanced.
Johnson opened the tournament with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Broomfield’s Hallie Won.
Outside of that, Vista PEAK Prep was shut out the win column at Region 2 as juniors Karla Rodriguez and Shea Bryant at Nos. 2 and 3 singles both lost in the first round, as did all four doubles teams (juniors Ava and Mady Eltzroth at No. 1, senior Maya Vaughn and junior Megany Enkhaldar at No. 2, junior Journee Hibbler and sophomore Maya Rosa at No. 3 and senior Gabriella Jarrett and junior Madison Rich at No. 4).
Cherry Creek won regional titles at all seven lines and advanced all to the 5A individual state tournament May 8-10 at the Denver Tennis Park.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
