Fairview’s Carolyn Warren knew how much she wanted to make the finals of the Class 5A state girls tennis championship. But knowing how much and actually getting there are quite different, especially when you have to beat defending champion Erin Sanders of Ponderosa to achieve that goal.
And that’s not an easy task, as Sanders proved Friday morning at the Gates Tennis Center.
But, for Warren, it wasn’t impossible, either.
The Fairview senior battled back from a second-set defeat and down a break in the third to win the final three games for a 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 victory and a berth in Saturday’s No. 1 singles championship.
“It’s been something that I’ve been working for probably since state last year,” said Warren, who finished third in 2007. “I just really wanted to get to the state finals. I tried not to get down, take it one point at a time.”
Though the score would indicate otherwise, the 6-0 first set was anything but a cakewalk for Warren. It didn’t hurt that Sanders made a few errors, ending the set with a double fault.
But being the defending champion, Sanders didn’t go down without a fight. After holding serve three straight times to open the second set, Sanders got the break she needed, breaking Warren’s serve with a baseline drive to go ahead 4-3. Sanders went on to serve out and force a decisive third set.
Warren’s opponent in Saturday’s championship match is Cherry Creek’s Caroline Schnell, a 6-0, 6-1 winner over Natalie Dunn of Poudre.
Schnell is one of five finalists for Cherry Creek, which qualified three of its four doubles teams into their respective finals as well as No. 3 singles Steph Pepper. Pepper, a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Chatfield’s Ashley Sanders in the semis, will play Ponderosa’s Brittney Ricci in the final.
Cherry Creek, vying for a 12th straight team title, has 54 points. Ponderosa is second with 51 and Chatfield third with 44.
