Evolution of Mayo's Malea Diehn has produced a section tennis championship
Oct. 14—ROCHESTER — So what hasn't improved about Malea Diehn's tennis game?
The quick answer is nothing. It's all new and improved and she had that on full display Tuesday at the Rochester Athletic Club in the Section 1, Class 3A singles semifinals and final.
The latter match was particularly impressive as the tall and powerful Rochester Mayo junior knocked off Spartans teammate and fellow top-three-in-the-state-ranked Aoife Loftus 7-6 (7-5 tie-breaker), 6-1.
Diehn, who is playing singles for the first time in the section meet, is ranked No. 2 in state Class 3A, while close friend Loftus is ranked third.
The match figured to be a doozy. And for the first set, it was. Diehn actually had to climb back to win set No. 1 after trailing 6-5. She tied it at 6-all, then won the tiebreaker.
But after that, it was all Diehn.
"I felt like Aoife's level dropped a bit in the second set," said Diehn, who has just one loss this season, that to Eagan's No. 1 ranked Cassandra Li.
While Loftus' level dropped, Diehn's did the opposite. The handful of overheads she was missing around the net in the first set were cleanly punished after that as the Mayo junior showed no holes in her game.
Rochester Athletic Club tennis pros who work with Diehn said they've maybe never seen a player go from where Diehn was last year — which was good — to her newfound elite level in the course of one season.
"Yeah, I think my serve consistency has gone up," the humble and soft-spoken Diehn said. "I used to double-fault a lot, and now that's a lot better. And I think I just hit harder now and more consistent, too. So, everything's gotten better.
"I've started getting a lot of good results recently, and I think that's kind of made me more confident in myself and my ability to hang with people I used to think were better than me."
Count Loftus, who like Diehn, has powerful baseline strokes, is among that group. Loftus was clearly the better player between the two last year. Now, Diehn might have a slight edge.
The rankings at least suggest as much as did Tuesday's result.
Still, the humble Diehn is not ready to give herself too much credit. She hits with Loftus at practice every day and knows how talented she is.
"I would say it's pretty even between us," Diehn said. "It kind of depends on the day."
Both players advanced to the state individual tennis tournament with Tuesday's results. That is set for Oct. 23-24 at the University of Minnesota's Baseline Tennis Center. Before that (Oct. 21-22), Diehn, Loftus and the rest of the Mayo team will try to nail down their third straight state team championship. Ranked No. 1 in Minnesota, they'll be favored to do it.
Ana Medina is counting down and trying to make the most of these final days as a Rochester Mayo tennis player.
It's been quite a ride for the Spartans senior, who has been a key part of two straight Mayo state team championships and is favored to bring home a third next week.
Medina would also like to bring home an individual title. She'll get a chance to do that after she and Mayo teammate Eliana Elder won the Section 1, Class 3A doubles crown Tuesday.
They did it with ease, breezing past Lakeville South's Eva Welsch and Madison Morse 6-3, 6-0 in the championship. They'd had a much tougher time in the semifinals Tuesday, needing three sets to beat Lakeville North's Sophia Scheglowski and Vera Scheglowski.
"This is bittersweet," Medina said of her final days wearing Mayo's tennis uniform. "I'm just trying to soak it all in, but I'm happy I was able to get it done with Ellie. She's such a great girl."
She's also a fine partner for Medina, who is ranked seventh in the state in singles, but has gone for doubles in the individual postseason tournament.
"Once we started playing some matches together, we kind of figured out our groove," Medina said. "I think we are both really fast and we get to a lot of balls and I think we know where to be. That's letting us be effective when we're on the court. Ellie is such a great player and she's so fun to play with because she's consistent. I know I can count on her to have my back."
SINGLES
Semifinals: Malea Diehn (Mayo) def. Mia Brue (John Marshall) 6-0, 6-0; Aoife Loftus (Mayo) def. Catherine Li (Century) 6-2, 6-1. Championship: Diehn (Mayo) def. Loftus (Mayo) 7-6 (7-5), 6-1. Third place: Li (Century) def. Brue (JM) 6-1, 6-0.
DOUBLES
Semifinals: Ana Medina/Eliana Elder (Mayo) def. Sophia Scheglowski/Vera Scheglowski (Lakeville North) 6-7 (7-5), 6-1, 6-3; Eva Welsch/Madison Morse (Lakeville South) def. Jasmine Yu/Zoe Zhang (Century) 6-4, 6-2. Championship: Medina/Elder (Mayo) def. Welsch/Morse (Lakeville South) 6-3, 6-0. Third place: S. Scheglowski/V. Scheglowski (Lakeville North) def. Yu/Zhang 6-7 (7-2), 6-1, 6-2.
