Fairview’s Amber Shen. More photos. (Ray Chen/arrayphoto.com)
DENVER — The No. 1 singles final match at the girls’ Class 5A state tennis tournament had all the makings of a Hollywood script. There was passion, drama and the underdog came away with the victory.
Fairview’s Amber Shen defeated Cherry Creek’s Kalyssa Hall 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (6) on Wednesday in the best match of the tournament.
“I felt like she was being tentative; I told her to be aggressive,” Fairview coach Susan Stensrud said. “She’s a great player. She just had to play her game.”
The road to the championship was anything but easy for Shen. She dropped the first set 6-3 to Hall, who won two 4A No. 1 singles titles while playing at Cheyenne Mountain. (Hall transferred to Creek this season.)
Shen then dropped three of the first four games in the second set, only to win four in a row to take a 5-3 lead.
The match soon grew charged with emotion when the chair official overruled several of Hall’s out calls. But Hall was able to overcome it and take a 6-5 lead in the set.
With a chance to serve for the match, the duo were locked at deuce and with advantage out, Hall double-faulted on the serve to send it to a tie-breaker.
Shen cruised through the tie-breaker to win it 7-3. In between sets, Hall was advised by the official that she was being corrected too many times and gave her an official caution.
“I’ve been in matches where similar things have happened,” Shen said. “There have been issues with line calls and stuff so I had some experience with that and it definitely helped me.”
In the third and deciding set, Hall and Shen traded games back and forth with neither one able to break the other’s serve. That changed when Hall was up 4-3. She was able to break Shen and take a 5-3 lead, once again putting her in a position to win the match.
But Shen returned the favor in the next game to once again level the field. With Shen serving and Hall leading the third set 5-4, the official once again corrected a Hall claim that Shen’s shot landed out.
After giving a point to Shen earlier in the match, the official awarded the game to Shen for this latest correction, tying the third set at 5-5.
“I’m not 100 percent sure that was the right call,” Shen said. “The next game, I was tight and shaken by that and Kalyssa was definitely pumped by that.”
Hall came back to win the next the game, getting her third chance to seal the match.
“I think that shows how much she wanted it and how much of a competitor she is,” Cherry Creek coach Chris Jacob said. “I think there were opportunities where she could’ve been (mentally taken out of the match) but she was able to refocus herself.”
Shen came back to win the next game, putting the match into another tie-breaker.
A see-saw affair saw Hall get corrected two more times at that point. Rather than awarding Shen the match — which by rule he could have done — the official allowed top singles players to decide the championship on the court.
Shen won the tie-breaker to 8-6 to give her a No. 1 singles title as a freshman.
Cherry Creek won the team title. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
“Even now, I don’t believe I won,” Shen said. “Even at match point I wasn’t sure if I was going to win or not.”
All was not lost for the Bruins however as they came away with their 19th consecutive team title.
“Every girl on the team gets to know that they were a part of that,” Jacob said. “There’s pressure going for 19 in row. That’s what our boys’ record is, so there’s pressure we try not to talk about. But it’s there.”
Notables
Rock Canyon has historical
Rock Canyon’s Sydney Boyle and Caroline Skibness had the best showing in Rock Canyon history as they placed fourth overall.
Girls Tennis was just awarded the 2015 5A State Sportsmanship Award and finished 9th overall as a team at State! pic.twitter.com/mOTqk3Lc7z
— Rock Canyon Tennis (@RCHStennis) May 13, 2015
Rock Canyon also came away with the tournament’s Sportsmanship Award.
Ralston Valley duo wins state in final match together
The Ralston Valley duo of Haley Weidemann and Adrien Horowitz have played every match at the state tournament together. Their journey this year ended with a state championship in No. 1 doubles.
State champs at 1D!! Wiedemann and Horowitz take the title!! Congrats!
— Ralston Valley (@HS_MUSTANGS) May 13, 2015