For the second season in a row, Regis Jesuit fills up all the spots on the 2025 Aurora Sentinel All-Aurora Girls Tennis Team.
Coach Jen Armstrong’s Raiders were the Aurora area team to qualify for the Class 5A team state tournament — losing in the quarterfinals — while all seven lines earned the chance to compete in the 5A individual state tournament at Denver Tennis Park.
The highest place achieved at the 5A individual state tournament went to senior Rebecca Gelfer, who finished in third place at No. 3 singles.
Due to an early injury, there was significant movement in the lineup after the first few weeks of the season. Gelfer began the season at the No. 1 spot she’d held the previous two seasons, but after a subsequent round of challenges matches, she ended up at No. 3, with freshman Madeline Dickey at No. 1 and junior Otylia Martino at No. 2.
Gelfer thrived in her new position and finished with just two losses in 17 matches. Both defeats came to the to the players who made it to the state championship match: undefeated Ralston Valley freshman Anna Curran as well as Cherry Creek junior Zoe Hochstadt, who topped Gelfer in the 5A semifinals in an emotional match played between two good friends.
Gelfer rebounded from that defeat to down Fossil Ridge junior Lara Seager 6-0, 6-1 to reach the third-place match, where she rolled past Rocky Mountain sophomore Ainsley Cunnigham 6-3, 6-3. Gelfer — who also posted the only win for the Raiders in their 5A state team quarterfinal match against Valor Christian — is not playing in college, though she said she might try to walk-on in college at the Division I school she will attend.
Dickey missed the opening portion of the season due to injury and made her debut in March at No. 3 before working her way up to the top spot. She won double-digit matches at No. 1 and won in straights sets in her first 5A individual state match before a loss to Valor Christian’s Caroline Daugherty, who went on to win the state title at the position for a second straight season. A lengthy three-set loss to Boulder’s Tessa Botha in the opening round of playbacks ended her quest to get to the third-place match.
Martino played No. 3 singles a year ago and won 15 matches and she upped her total to 20 this season in her new spot. Martino won a three-set match in her state tournament opener and a loss to Rock Canyon’s Sanskriti Sinha yielded an eventual playback chance when Sinha made the final. Martino advanced to the playback semifinals via a win by forfeit, but Fossil Ridge’s Sophia Hartman defeated her in straight sets and went on to claim third place.
Regis Jesuit’s lone state placers in the doubles ranks came from the No. 3 team of senior Brooklyn Craven and sophomore Abigail Puschaver, who were fourth in their one and only state tournament appearance together.
Familiar with each other from last season when they played together on the junior varsity, Craven and Puschaver gladly ended up together once the lineup shuffling concluded. They put together a 13-match winning streak during the regular season and their only losses as a duo came to the state championship-winning team from Ralston Valley plus two to Valor Christian. Craven will likely play club tennis college, while Puschaver — a multi-sport athlete who also plays softball — doesn’t know if she’ll play doubles or singles next season.
The No. 4 doubles team of freshman Rachel Osborn and senior Sophia Simoes played together for all but one match during the season and finished 18-5. Osborn and Simoes won a three-set match over Fruita Monument in the opening round, then lost to a duo from Fossil Ridge, which subsequently lost in the semifinals to prevent a playback chance.
The No. 1 doubles team of seniors Cait Carolan and Lily Beebe had a tough first round draw against a team from Valor Christian and lost in three lengthy sets, then did not get a chance for playback when the Eagles (who went on to place third) lost in the semifinals. The Raiders won 10 matches together.
Senior Molly Goodwin and junior Helen Adams lost a three-set match to opponents from Fort Collins in the first round of the state tournament. The loss to the Lambkins (who fell in the next round) was the only one the duo suffered that did not come to a team that did not place in the top four at the state tournament.
HONORABLE MENTION: The All-Aurora Girls Tennis Team honorable mention list consists of the only other qualifiers from the Aurora area in the Grandview No. 3 doubles team of Ella Vail and Bethany Savacool as well as the Cherokee Trail No. 3 doubles team of Lillian Wilson and Aninkaely Madeje.
