Boulder’s Kap Smith on the No. 1 singles title. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
DENVER — Things weren’t looking good for Kap Smith.
After losing the first set 7-5, the Boulder High School sophomore trailed Cherry Creek’s Ryan James 4-0 in the second set of their Class 5A state championship No. 1 singles match Saturday morning.
It was then that a frustrated Smith, in returning balls to James for service, lobbed them a little too high. The chair umpire docked Smith a point for ball abuse.
“That really got me pumped up,” he said.
In addition to providing motivation, the incident helped Smith change his focus against James as he came back to win the next six games and take the set, then held off James’ furious third-set rally to win the match 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Smith had a few unforced errors, but not many, through the first set and a half. Through the remainder of the match, he had hardly any.
“(James) hits more winners (than I do) but he makes more mistakes,” Smith said.
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
So he changed his tactics to force James into hitting errors, including on match point.
When does the quest begin for Smith’s second state title?
“Tomorrow,” he said.
He thought about it again and decided, “Probably Monday.”
Smith was not the only Boulder singles player to win a state title. Teammate Jackson Hawk, a senior, took the crown at No. 2 singles, defeating Charlie Franks of Denver East 6-1, 6-2.
Cherry Creek’s Mitch Johnson earned the No. 3 singles titles as a sophomore, downing another Boulder player, Cutter Esson, 6-4, 7-6.
Cherry Creek also won the No. 3 doubles title, Ben Murray and Spencer Buted taking a hard-fought 7-6, 7-6 victory over Evan Nuss and Kosta Garger of Regis Jesuit.
Regis did win state titles at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, Steven Bummer and Erich Nuss earning the former and Patrick Seby and Luca Abbott the latter.
The No. 4 doubles title went to David Glazer and Will Burton of Denver East.
With wins at No. 3 singles and doubles, Cherry Creek, which wrapped up the team title on Friday, won the tournament with 75 points, outdistancing second-place Fairview by 28 points. Denver East was third with 46.
The title is Cherry Creek’s fifth-straight, and 20th in 22 seasons.
Cherry Creek won a fifth-consecutive state championship. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)