Kristina Barber’s performance in the No. 1 singles championship match best exemplified how much Cheyenne Mountain, winners of at least 20 regional titles in a row, dominated the Class 4A Region 6 meet Friday.
Barber broke Fountain Valley’s Clarke Tatje’s serve in the first game of the opening set and seemed to gain momentum with each game as the Indians junior cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 win over the 2008 state 4A runner-up.
“It was not a good start and she built on that,” Tatje said.
The Indians qualified all seven entrants for the state tournament in Pueblo May 7-9 after No. 2 singles player Meha Semwal won a challenge match for the No. 2 seed out of the division. Friday’s play took place at Cheyenne Mountain and the Country Club of Colorado.
“That’s our No. 1 goal,” Indians coach Dave Adams said. “Not having all seven at state is a real disadvantage.”
Semwal lost to Fountain Valley’s Kim Gehling 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (2) in the No. 2 singles championship in arguably the match of the day.
“She wasn’t giving up anything,” Semwal said. “She played a very good match.”
Semwal bounced back to defeat Widefield’s Jordan Robinson 6-0, 6-0 to advance to state.
Barber’s 6-3, 6-1 win looked convincing on the scoresheet, but proved to be much more competitive than the score suggests, much like the regional itself.
“This is a good win for me because she’s very good,” Barber said. “It was a really good match with a lot of rallies. I just kept strong mentally.”
An example of a competitive regional came in Thursday’s No. 1 doubles semifinals when the team of Corri Morgan and Jamie Harrison from Colorado Springs Christian School took the first set in a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 loss to Cheyenne Mountain’s Amy Marquit and Kalyn Miller. Morgan and Harrison, the No. 4 seeds coming into the meet, won their challenge match to advance. Other challenge-match winners were No. 3 singles player Hillary Kuklesnki of St. Mary’s and Widefield’s Taylor Anderson and Jasmine Warrington in No. 3 doubles.
