AURORA | The first state championships of Season D will be decided on the tennis courts, with state tournaments ahead in three classifications June 11-12.
The Class 3A state tournament takes place at Memorial Park in Colorado Springs and Pueblo City Park is host to the 4A tournament, but Aurora’s qualifiers all head to the 5A tournament at Gates Tennis Center.
Regis Jesuit has the largest contingent among Aurora programs with a singles qualifier in sophomore No. 3 Madison Wei along with doubles teams of seniors Ella Cherveny and Tara Connolly (No. 1), senior Ally Gosser and sophomore Paige Wolf (No. 2), senior Madeline Roper and freshman Mary Clare Watts (No. 3) and senior Stella Fitzgerald and freshman Lucia Filippini (No. 4).
Cherokee Trail has a pair of singles players in No. 2 Arzoo Agarwal and No. 3 Mariana Matos along with the No. 1 doubles team of seniors Metali Desai and Risha Goel and the No. 4 doubles duo of seniors Naomi Kiess and Elizabeth Lim.
Smoky Hill senior Valerie Negin returns with a chance to win a second career No. 1 singles state championship (story).
Like the boys season in the fall, the state tournament will be played over two days and will be single elimination to cut down matches due to the pandemic. The playback bracket that is typically in place is absent, leaving on first and second place at stake.
Matches begin at 9 a.m. both days, with two rounds to be completed on the first day and semifinals and finals played consecutively on the closing day.
— Full 5A state tournament pairings and brackets, here
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports