Faith Lutheran’s girls tennis team avenged a regular-season loss to Coronado by winning the Class 5A team state title after a tiebreaker round. The Crusaders, the No. 2 seed, secured a 10-9 victory over the defending champion Coronado, the No. 1 seed, on Friday.
The match was tied 9-9 after three rounds, with Faith Lutheran’s doubles teams of Avery Dudgeon/Geneva Saggese and Ella Vreeling/Adrielle Jones each winning two of their three matches to contribute four points. This performance was described by coach Keith Fridrich as 'huge' and what got the team into the tiebreaker round.
In the tiebreaker round, Vreeling and Jones won their match, and all three of Faith Lutheran’s singles players won their matches. Freshman Cherie Salomon, after losing 6-0 to Coronado’s Erika Gallegos in the first round, was down 5-2 in the seven-point tiebreaker but won the last five points to clinch the deciding match and the title.
Coach Fridrich said, 'Our girls were brave. They knew it was a tough spot against a really experienced team and they went out and executed and did everything we asked them to do.' He added, 'To see it happen the way it did was truly remarkable.'
Faith Lutheran celebrated a double victory on Friday, as its boys team also won the 5A team state title by defeating Bishop Gorman 11-5, marking their third straight title.
Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Original reporting: Las Vegas Review-Journal →
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