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Every spring, the weather warms up, the flowers begin to bloom and Timpview wins a 4A state boys tennis title. At least those have been the telling signs for more than half a decade.
For the sixth consecutive year and eighth time in 10 years, the T'Birds came out on top at the 4A state tennis championships at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday. Timpview was simply dominant and proved once again that the rest of the classification is only playing for second place.
"We really get excited after each one. Each one's different," said Timpview coach Rob Sperry. "It never gets old and the other thing is it's never easy, so you have to earn it."
Timpview was so dominant that even if you combined the scores of the second- and third-place teams, it still wouldn't have been enough to overtake the T'Birds. And Timpview had the title wrapped up before the final round even started. The T'Birds finished with a team score of 25, well ahead of Pine View, who finished second with 12 points, and Highland, which placed third with 11 points.
"We're humbled, but we're at the same time overjoyed," Sperry said. "We're very humbled because we feel very grateful to be able to succeed with a field this strong. We give credit to all the individual players and to the other teams because they worked just as hard as we did and we were just fortunate this year."
The T'Birds lost only one out of their 18 matches over the two-day tournament, bringing home titles in each of the No. 2 singles, No. 3 singles, No. 1 doubles and No. 2 doubles divisions.
Cal Larson and the No. 2 doubles team of Dallin Wardrop and Michael Christensen repeated as state champions. Skyler Evans won his first individual title at No. 3 singles while Parker Dobson and Bret Bahme won their first titles at No. 1 doubles after losing in the final last year.
At No. 2 singles, Larson's toughest test came in the semifinals against Sutton Shackelford, which Larson won 6-4, 6-4. Larson went on to dispatch of Michael Hughes of Woods Cross in the final by a score of 6-2, 6-0.
"It's pretty cool," Larson said. "There's a lot of anxious feelings that are gone now."
The humble junior won his second singles title and his third state championship in his three years at Timpview.
"He's won state every year he's been here, yet if you talk with him you'd never get that out of him," Sperry said.
Evans won the crown at No. 3 singles by beating Mountain View's Adam Lewis in the final 6-1, 6-3. Evans was dominant throughout the tournament, losing only eight out of 56 games.
"Skyler is as talented or more talented as any member of the team physically," Sperry said. "He's a very good player and he's done remarkably well."
The only two members of the Timpview team not to have won an individual state championship coming into this weekend did so in the No. 1 doubles division. Dobson and Bahme endured through a tough first set to win the tiebreaker 11-9 before going on to win the second set 6-3 over Pine View's Clark Wilkey and Skyler Almquist. In the crucial tiebreaker, Dobson and Bahme endured several set points against them before coming back to win it.
"It was intense. Every point it was going back and forth," Dobson said.
Bahme added, "They came to play, but we stepped it up and played unconscious."
Christensen and Wardrop had a slightly easier time in their No. 2 doubles final against Pine View's Jake Lingwall and Kevin Steck as they won 6-1, 6-2.
"On our team, there's first doubles and then our second doubles are second to none, meaning we have two first doubles," Sperry said. "In reality they're both very equal. They could've played in the first doubles and done well."
The only other local competitor in action on Saturday was Mountain View's Adam Lewis, who won a tough semifinal match over Bountiful's Andrew Applegate 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 6-4 before falling to Evans in the final. Lewis was the only competitor in the tournament to win multiple three-set matches.
Lewis' strong performance helped Mountain View finish in a tie for sixth place with five points. Orem and Provo each finished in a tie for 12th place with one point each.
Although Timpview won the title easily this year, Sperry believes that the competition continues to get better and that this year's 4A field was one of the toughest he has seen.
"This is the strongest field I've seen in some time," Sperry said. "Top to bottom it was a very strong field."
Larson believes that the coaching and hard work was the key to this year's success.
"We had great coaches this year," he said. "We worked really hard and it paid off."
Team Scores
1. Timpview 25, 2. Pine View 12, 3. Highland 11, 4. Bountiful 7, 5. Cottonwood 6, T6. Box Elder 5, T6. Mountain View 5, T6. Woods Cross 5, T9. Dixie 4, T9. Mountain Crest 4, 11. East 2, T12. Bonneville 1, T12. Orem 1, T12. Provo 1, T12. West 1.
Semifinal Results
No. 1 Singles
Jordan Barlow (BE) def. Burke VanNorman (PV) 6-0, 6-0
Devin Lane (High.) def. Matt Sweet (CW) 6-4, 7-5
No. 2 Singles
Michael Hughes (WX) def. Jordan Lyden (PV) 7-5, 6-2
Cal Larson (TV) def. Sutton Shackelford (High.) 6-4, 6-4
No. 3 Singles
Adam Lewis (MV) def. Andrew Applegate (Bount.) 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 6-4
Skyler Evans (TV) def. Chase Foote (High.) 6-2, 6-2
No. 1 Doubles
Wilkey and Almquist (PV) def. Johnson and Daines (MC) 6-4, 6-3
Bahme and Dobson (TV) def. Prawitt and Jones (Bount.) 6-1, 6-4
No. 2 Doubles
Lingwall and Steck (PV) def. Jones and Collier (Bount.) 6-3, 6-3
Christensen and Wardrop (TV) def. Shaligram and Cornish (CW) 6-1, 6-3
Finals Results
No. 1 Singles
Lane (High.) def. Barlow (BE) 6-2, 6-3
No. 2 Singles
Larson (TV) def. Hughes (WX) 6-2, 6-0
No. 3 Singles
Evans (TV) def. Lewis (MV) 6-1, 6-3
No. 1 Doubles
Bahme and Dobson (TV) def. Wilkey and Almquist (PV) 7-6 (11-9), 6-3
No. 2 Doubles
Christensen and Wardrop (TV) def. Lingwall and Steck (PV) 6-1, 6-2 Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts) |
