DENVER — Audrey Keenan and Alyssa Behrens saved the day for the Grand Junction High School tennis team Friday.
In dramatic fashion, the duo came back from one set down to defeat Arapahoe’s Molly Ray and Lauren Stemper 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 and put themselves into the third-place match this morning at the Gates Tennis Center in Denver.
“This doubles draw is really tough, figuring we lost to four of the top eight teams,” Grand Junction coach Carol Elliott said. “For us to come back to beat Air Academy and Arapahoe is great.”
Behrens and Keenan defeated Air Academy in their first playback 6-0, 7-6. They lost to both Air Academy and Arapahoe during the regular season.
“I think today was all about redemption,” Behrens said.
The win sets up a match with Cherry Creek’s Corinne Hill and Cassie Wells.
“(Beating Air Academy and Arapahoe) shows how much better we have gotten and now we are playing at our best,” Keenan said.
Behrens won the state championship at No. 3 doubles last year and defeated the Bruins’ Hill to do so.
“(Hill) is big and she is tough,” Behrens said. “Sometimes Cherry Creek has mental flaws and we will pounce on it.”
The Tigers’ experience came out in their match against Arapahoe — Keenan is a four-time state qualifier.
“They are used to a state environment and they know they had it in them,” Elliott said.
For the rest of the Western Slope players, Friday was a day of sitting, waiting and wishing.
The day started with Grand Junction’s No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams still in the championship bracket, but both lost their quarterfinal matches.
The No. 2 team of Betty Lou Booz and Samantha Weinberg lost to Fort Collins’ Jenna Woodard and Jessica Gasparian 6-4, 6-4.
“We went out and played our hardest and it was pretty evenly matched,” Weinberg said. “There were some points in the second set that could have gone either way.”
Grand Junction’s No. 3 doubles team of Liz Heaps and Maddie Hayduk fell to Ponderosa’s Chelsea Snow and Calley Lafon 6-0,6-3.
With everyone out of the championship bracket, all players were forced to watch semifinal matches to see if they would qualify for a playback.
Of 11 possible spots, only four qualified for playbacks.
Fort Collins’ No. 2 doubles team lost in the semifinals to Cherry Creek, taking Booz and Weinberg out of the tournament.
“It was nerve-racking because the match went three sets,” Booz said. “That made it even worse trying to find out if our season was going to end or if we were going to keep playing.”
Central earned two playbacks, but Cyndle Curfman lost to Lindsey Sanders of Chatfield 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles and the No. 4 doubles team of Jenna Cruz and Kelsey Sloan lost to Fairview’s Kayle Artino and Sara Martin 6-0, 6-1.
Central did not earn any team points but for the Warriors, the trip to state was enough. No Central player had qualified for state in 10 years.
“I think the girls see what they have to do to play with this caliber,” Central coach Steve Tyler said. “This now puts the expectation for the team to, ‘We did it last year and now we need to go back.’ ”
Fruita Monument’s No. 2 doubles team of Brittany Moon and Janine Kirtland lost their playback match to Pine Creek’s Janmie Pledger and Anne Fredell 7-5, 6-2.
“I hope we take away that we belong here and that we can build upon it for next year,” Fruita Monument coach Clint Davis said.
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E-mail Patrick Bahr at pbahr@gjds.com.
