PUEBLO — Fantastic finishes are becoming the norm for Kent Denver’s boys tennis team. The same goes for Colorado’s top tennis player in Class 4A, Broomfield’s Andrew Flora.
For the second year in a row, the Sun Devils went undefeated in six matches — five in the finals and one for third place — to rally and defeat Cheyenne Mountain 76-63 to capture the state title at City Park.
And Flora, a senior who transferred to Broomfield from Mountain Range, completed a perfect season by upending Lewis-Palmer’s Aidan Reid 6-4, 6-4 in the finals.
“This feels great,” said the 6-foot-4, 155-pound Flora, who had a 13-0 season record. “Aidan has a big serve and a monster forehand, and I was able to stay focused out there and play my game, and I had some luck on my side.”
“He (Flora) played very well, and he was just better than me (Saturday),” Reid said.
No luck was required for Kent Denver, which beat Cheyenne Mountain head-to-head in five matches Saturday: at No. 2 and No. 3 singles and Nos. 1, 2 and 4 doubles.
“That’s a pretty amazing occurrence for us to run the table again on the final day,” veteran Kent Denver coach Randy Ross said about his team’s second consecutive crown. “I wish I could share a secret to why we play so well in the last day at state, but I don’t know what it is. We just have fun, stay focused and try to win matches, and that’s what we did.”
The Sun Devils secured their fifth state crown in boys tennis, after titles in 1999 (tied with Cheyenne Mountain), 2003, 2004 and 2008.
Kent Denver entered the final day trailing the Indians 59-54 in the team standings. The Sun Devils responded to the pressure as Matt Carroll (No. 2 singles), J.J. Shpall (No. 3 singles), James Martinez and Graham Baker (No. 1 doubles), Matt Brittan and Troy Campbell (No. 2 doubles) and David Karpas and Alec Lee (No. 4 doubles) claimed championships. The Sun Devils’ Nick Merrill and Kamiar Coffey (No. 3 doubles) took third place.
“Cheyenne Mountain is such a huge rival for us, and it’s great for us to come back again and beat them,” said the senior Shpall, who clinched the team title for Kent when he beat Cheyenne’s Matt Bowser 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.
