Dramatic tennis match ends with Edina victory

Inner City Tennis Center in Minneapolis housed more drama than most plays at the Guthrie Theater when top seed Wayzata played second seed Edina for the Section 6AAA girls tennis title Oct. 13.

Edina’s dominance in singles carried the day as the Hornets won a return trip to the State Class AAA Tournament 6-1.

The singles sweep was accomplished in straight sets and Edina also managed to win two of the three doubles matches. A week earlier in the Lake Conference finale, Edina had beaten Wayzata 4-3.

With the exception of a match against No. 1-ranked Rochester Mayo, Edina has had a big edge in singles matches all season.

Going into the section finals against Wayzata, the Hornets faced two matches that looked like 50-50 propositions with Sophia Zeng facing Trojan captain Joy Zhou at No. 3 and Mylana Hallaway facing Julia Borchardt at No. 4.

Zeng played one of her best matches of the season in a 6-2, 6-3 victory. Hallaway flipped a point the Hornets had lost the week before by defeating Borchardt 6-2, 6-1.

“Sophia took a 3-0 lead in the first set,” Edina head coach Jaime Gaard Chapman said. “But we knew it was not over. Joy Zhou has played a ton of tournaments, and she is a very good player. That match was on one of the end courts with a lot of fans watching from the bleachers. I am proud of how Sophia handled the pressure.

“Mylana had an excellent game play,” coach Gaard Chapman continued. “That was a good win against a girl who had won the point in the conference match the week before.”

The first and second singles points were easier for the Hornets. At No. 1, Rashi Singh defeated Wayzata ninth-grader Melody Le 6-2, 6-1 and at No. 2 Edina sophomore captain Bella Loucks rolled past Avika Hasti 6-1, 6-0.

Fan interest was high for all three doubles matches.

Wayzata quickly won the point at No. 1 with Nikole Nazarevych and Caroline Angel defeating the Edina pair of sophomores Sarah Levine and Alison Schmidt 6-1, 6-0.

No. 2 doubles was a long match that the Edina team of sophomore Berit Larson and eighth-grader Madeline Sundick eventually won 6-3, 6-3 over Morgan Berge and Lisa Cao. Both sides made big shots at key times to end long rallies.

“It was by far Berit’s best match of the season,” coach Gaard Chapman said. “She played with spirit and took command of the court. Madeline is getting better and better each week.”

Third doubles was the only match that took three sets to complete. Edina juniors Avery Hardt and captain Cici Bourne lost the first set to Darby Loendorf and Colette Gefroh 6-3, but rallied to take the next two sets 6-1, 6-3.

In an awards ceremony, Wayzata players received silver section medals and Edina players were awarded their gold medals. The win gave Edina a season record of 15-2. Wayzata finished 14-3.

“I was surprised by the outcome of the match,” Wayzata head coach Kathleen Farmer said. “All I ask of our girls is that they give their best effort – and they did. We have had a great season, but that day just wasn’t for us.”

This season was one of the best in Wayzata tennis history – even without a trip to state. The Trojans were No. 3 in the state Class AAA rankings behind Rochester Mayo and Edina. And they won six of seven Lake Conference matches.

“We played 18 matches in six weeks,” coach Farmer said. “We have a wonderful group of young women and I could not be prouder of them.”