Fairview won the 5A girls tennis team championship. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
DENVER — Susan Stensrud couldn’t quite fathom it. Not yet, at least.
“I’m not one hundred percent,” the Fairview girls tennis coach said after her team clinch an elusive Class 5A team crown on Saturday. “I don’t believe it one hundred percent. It hasn’t sunk in, but I’m so glad it’s this team of girls.”
To knock off a 19-time defending champion in girls tennis in Cherry Creek, winners of 20 of the past 21, Fairview’s memorable title bid hinged on a No. 3 singles match between two freshmen late on the final day of competition.
Fairview’s Sophie Pearson and Cherry Creek’s Sayuri Garud — with a number of Bruin and Knight supporters looking on — had a three-set marathon of a match. Pearson won the first set 6-4, while Garud took the next 6-3. In the deciding set for both individual and team pursuits, Pearson pulled away to a 6-3 victory to clinch the No. 3 singles title.
“I just knew that she was tired and I was, too,” Pearson said. “We were both struggling a little bit, but I just knew I had to push my hardest to win and I’m really glad I did for my team and for myself.”
As a result, the Knights became the first team other than Cherry Creek to win 5A since Grand Junction in 1996, ending an incredible championship streak that spanned nearly two decades for the Bruins. The final team scores came out to 69 points for Fairview and 66 for Cherry Creek. Mountain Vista was third with 41, while Poudre came in fourth with 29.
Stensrud knew it would take a special group to knock off Cherry Creek and the veteran coach had it in 2016. After finishing as the runner-up four-times — 2015, 2012, 2011 and 2010 — the Knights crowned Pearson and the No. 4 doubles group of Clare Lupo and Denali Pinto, who beat Mountain Vista’s Hunter Ernest and Hannah Smith 6-3, 6-2.
Fairview’s Seraphine Castelino won the No. 1 singles title. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Fairview also went back-to-back in having freshman win No. 1 singles after Amber Shen won over Cherry Creek’s Kalyssa Hall in 2015. Both players opted not to play this spring and Seraphin Castelino took advantage with an impressive 6-4, 6-1 ousting of Poudre sophomore Ky Ecton.
“I feel so rich to have another amazing kid be able to step in,” Stensrud said.
The freshman, the younger sister of former 5A boys No. 1 singles champion Ignatius Castelino, drew inspiration from her brother’s career.
“It was motivation for me, because he got second his first three years and I know how frustrating it was for him,” Castelino said. “It was a really fun season. She put up a great fight.”
For Fairview, the depth of the program led to points continuing to pour in during the playback rounds. as well. Stensrud has instilled a policy that helps define their group.
“I’m glad, because we’re a no-cut program and I want to prove that everybody can play and you can still be successful and have a top-ranked program,” she said.
Proving the value of her philosophy, Lupo was a state champion in her first season making the varsity as a senior, a sweet way to put the finishing touches on her career.
Cherry Creek, which only returned five varsity players this spring, had the No. 2 singles champion in sophomore Micha Handler, who defeated Poudre senior Alessa Fabiano 6-1, 6-1.
The Bruins also won No. 2 doubles as Allison Murphy and Emily Wilkens beat Chatfield’s Jenna Alvarez and Kendall Moore 6-1, 7-5. Creek, with several new ladies stepping into the lineup, had an excellent season nonetheless, just succumbing to Fairview by the slimmest of margins.
The Ponderosa tandem of Sydney Waite and Hunter Barker ousted Arapahoe’s Natalie Sloboth and Elizabeth Palmer at No. 1 doubles 6-4, 6-3. Erinn Hogan and Lindsey Noble of Fossil Ridge won No. 3 doubles over Denver East’s Kate and Kelly Wulf 6-4, 6-4.