No. 1 ranked Mayo keeps rolling, taking down Century in section tennis final
Oct. 7—BLOOMINGTON — It got tougher for the Mayo girls tennis team. But not nearly tough enough to keep it from going back to state for the 28th time in the last 29 years, 2012 the lone exception.
Mayo and rival Century — Mayo ranked first in the state and the two-time state defending champion, Century ranked seventh — went at it two weeks ago, Mayo emerging a 6-1 winner.
The teams got together again Tuesday at Life Time Fitness, this time with the stakes much higher than a regular-season clash. This meeting came in the Section 1, Class 3A championship, the winner advancing to the state tournament.
It will be Mayo going, though Century put up a bit of a fight, falling 5-2 with its incredibly young team. Mayo, which has three of the top 10 ranked players in state Class 3A playing singles, did indeed sweep the four singles spots, winning each in straight sets.
Century's two triumphs came at No. 2 and 3 doubles.
"We went with a strong singles lineup," said Mayo coach Jeff Demaray, whose lineup included No. 2 ranked Malea Diehn at No. 1 singles, No. 3 ranked Aoife Loftus at No. 2 singles and No. 7 ranked Ana Medina at No. 3 singles. "We've used Ana at No. 1 doubles most of the year. We looked at using three different lineups today but thought that this gives us the best chances to win those four singles spots."
It was Mayo's Eliana Elder at No. 4 singles. Though not a top-10 ranked player in the state, she is considered in the top 15 by Demaray and cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win in her match Tuesday.
It left the Spartans unbeaten (22-0) and perfect over the last three seasons (73-0). They'll try to stay that way and bring home their third straight state team title Oct. 21-22 when they participate in the state meet at the University of Minnesota's Baseline Tennis Center.
"For the most part the girls played pretty well today," Demaray said. "This is just a credit to all of the players and their parents as the players put the time in during the season and off-season. Almost our entire team is playing tournaments during the off-season."
SEMIFINALS
Mayo 7, John Marshall 0
Singles: Malea Diehn (M) def. Mia Brue 6-0, 6-0; Aoife Loftus (M) def. Halle Meas 6-0, 6-0; Eliana Elder (M) def. Kate Anderson 6-0, 6-0; Emily Loftus (M) def. Nora Serr 6-1, 6-0. Doubles: Ana Medina/Grace Pickering (M) def. Kendra Kampmeier/Ajna Behlic 6-1, 6-1; Eden Bendel/Annabelle Camp (M) def. Abby Koch/Bhavya Yerriboyina 6-0, 6-3; Isla Huebner/Ella Brinkman (M) def. Sophia Guajardo/Angeligue Thompson 6-0, 6-1.
Century 6, Owatonna 1
Singles: Catherine Li (C) def. Patty Jo Procopio (scores unavailable); Zoe Zhang (C) def. Genevieve Froman; Jasmine Yu (C) def. Greta Veldman; Gabi Navarro (O) def. Diya Shah. Doubles: Ria Shah/Tea McEachern (C) def. Harper Shives/Haley McNett (scores unavailable); Rachel Zhang/Emma Zhong (C) def. June Froman/Lily Thiele; Elma Zhang/Averi Oliver (C) def. Megan Demi/Sophie Grams.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Mayo 5, Century 2
Singles: Diehn (M) def. Li 6-0, 6-1; A. Loftus (M) def. Zhong 6-0, 6-0; Medina (M) def. Athena Homb 6-2, 6-0; Elder (M) def. Diya Shah 6-0, 6-0. Doubles: Pickering/Brinkman (M) def. Riah Shah/McEachern 6-2, 6-3; Yu/Zhang (C) def. Huebner/E. Loftus 6-3, 2-6, 10-6; Zhang/Oliver (C) def. Bendel/Camp 6-2, 6-1.
