(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
DENVER and PUEBLO — The rain couldn’t hold off long enough. As a result, play was suspended in both the Class 5A and 4A girls tennis state tournaments on Thursday.
5A, held at Gates Tennis Center in Denver, was suspended just as first-round matches were completing. In Pueblo, 4A got through most of its quarterfinals.
The 5A matches — included are two No. 3 and five No. 4 doubles first-rounders — will resume at 8 a.m. Thursday. Quarterfinals will begin immediately following their completion, and semifinals will begin after those quarterfinals. The semifinals should begin roughly around noon.
Likewise, 4A will begin its semifinals after the quarterfinals complete. However, with just 10 matches to get through, 4A’s semifinals could begin as early as 9 a.m.
Early on, it looked like 5A play might be delayed to start the day, but the rain held off and workers squeegeed water from an overnight rain off the courts. The sun came out by 11 a.m., but the rain returned around 3:30 p.m.
“We were happy to get in as many matches as we did,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Bethany Brookens, who oversees tennis.
Cherry Creek was atop the 5A team scores after the first day with seven points. Three teams — Arapahoe, Denver East and Fossil Ridge — sit in second with five points.