High school tennis: Rowland Hall has its sights set on another state title

At the start of the 2A/1A girls' tennis season, Rowland Hall head coach Tim Sleeper didn't quite know what to expect from his team. It wasn't, after all, until just before competition began that he actually had a full roster, which ballooned from six girls to 14 in the first few weeks of the school year.

Even with the sudden surplus of players, however, Sleeper was still unsure of how the season would unfold, as many of the team's newcomers were also new to the game of tennis.

"We've learned a lot in a very short time," he said. "The new athletes have raised the level of competition at practice, which has improved the entire team."

Now, he and the rest of the Winged Lion will find out just what the squad is made of when they compete in the state tournament this weekend at Liberty Park.

One of Sleeper's newest additions is senior Ashley Bostrom, a volleyball-player-turned-region-tennis-champion, who picked up a racket for the first time just seven weeks ago.

"(She's the) one new girl in the starting seven," Sleeper said of one of just two seniors on the Rowland Hall varsity roster. "She's a good natural athlete. She came in ready to learn and has picked up a lot."

Bostrom and junior Sarah Mian finished first in second doubles for the North Region, one of three first-place seeds for Rowland Hall. Sophomore Scout Swenson (third singles) and Madeline Foley (first singles) were also region champions.

"First singles at region was very competitive," Sleeper said. "There's a very strong player from Waterford (Lisa Haroutunian), there's a very strong player from St. Joseph (JoAnna Matyjakik), and our first singles player (Foley) is doing well. It was awesome to watch them compete at region, and I'm excited to see how that division plays out at state."

He added that the team scores for the top three finalists in the North Region meet were the closest they've ever been. Rowland Hall finished first with 16 points, while Waterford and St. Joseph were right behind with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

"A number of matches could have gone either way, and any one of those three teams could have won," Sleeper said.

Four different schools had athletes qualify for state in all five divisions: from the North, Rowland Hall and Waterford; and from the South, San Juan and Grand.

The Broncos and Red Devils were the top-performing teams in the South Region, accounting for all 10 first- and second-place finishers in the competition.

Natalya Lushina of Grand won the first singles region title and will enter state with a top seed, as will her teammates Cori Spencer and Brooklyn Richards, who compete in second doubles. For San Juan, Juanita Royer (second singles), Lacey Hook (third singles), and Courtney MacDonald and Rylee Lyman (first doubles) also each placed first in the South Region meet.

Zoe Gregoric (second singles) of Wasatch Academy and Ivee Barton and Natalia Behnken (first doubles) of St. Joseph round out the top-ranked competitors heading into the state tournament, which beings at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning.

e-mail: sthomas@desnews.com