Fairview freshman Amber Shen didn’t give herself much of a chance to win against two-time defending state champion Kalyssa Hall, a junior at Cherry Creek.
“When I woke up this morning, I was preparing to lose,” Shen said of her upcoming No. 1 singles championship match Wednesday at Gates Tennis Center.
But Hall’s calls during the match were overruled numerous times by the umpire and became so frequent that he gave her an official caution between the second and third set and awarded an entire game to Shen late in third set to tie it 5-5.
Shen would go on to win 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (6).
The players compete on an honor system, officiating their own match, with an umpire having the authority to overrule a call. The umpire overruled six of Hall’s calls, the last of which could have been enough to award the entire match to Shen. He chose to let them play.
“Without them (the penalties), I would have lost the match,” Shen said. “I’m a little upset I had to win in that way. I know Kalyssa’s really upset.”
With the third set tied 6-6, Shen and Hall went to a seven-point tiebreaker. Shen led that 6-4, but double-faulted on match point to make it 6-5. Hall won the next point, and Shen countered to make it 7-6 before finally winning the tiebreaker 8-6 — and the title — after Hall returned the final ball just wide.
Hall left the tournament immediately after her loss for an official visit to Cornell.
“I thought I was going to lose, even when I had those two match points,” Shen said.
Cherry Creek coach Chris Jacob, now in her 10th year coaching varsity, couldn’t think of another match with so much intensity.
There were many audibly frustrated parents, teammates and even other coaches expressing disagreement with some of the calls.
It was Hall’s toughest match of the year, Jacob said.
“Amber’s game is tough to play against,” Jacob said. “With the two hands off both sides she can create some angles, and that matched up really well against Kalyssa.
“Kalyssa did the same thing two years ago when she beat somebody as a freshman. When you’re that strong, you’re going to be the person to beat.”
Fairview and Creek faced off in five of the seven finals: No. 1, 2 and 3 singles, and No. 2 and 3 doubles. Fairview won once more, in addition to No. 1 singles, in No. 3 doubles.
It wasn’t enough to get the Knights a team title, and Cherry Creek won a girls tennis title for the 19th consecutive year with 87 points. Fairview finished second with 67 points.
Other title winners included Creek freshman Anshika Singh in No. 2 singles, Creek junior Gloria Son in No. 3 singles, in No. 1 doubles, Jessie Murphy and Mariela Hollines of Creek in No. 2 doubles, Sarah Sharpe and Skylar Caledonia of Fairview in No. 3 doubles and Hannah Peterson and Allison Murphy of Cherry Creek in No. 4 doubles.
Morgan Dzakowic: 303-954-1275, mdzakowic@denverpost.com or