High school tennis: Thunder roll to repeat girls 3A title

PROVO — A deep and well-balanced Desert Hills' Thunder squad rolled through the 3A State Girls Tennis Tournament Saturday, getting all five positions into the finals to repeat as state champions.

Led by seniors Annie Davis at second singles and Hilary Wright in first doubles, the Thunder were just too stable at every position for the other teams to gather enough points to compete, accumulating 24 total points to Judge Memorial's second-place finishing at 18.

The runner-up Bulldogs had a great showing, however, getting three positions into the finals and winning the individual titles for first singles and third singles.

Bulldog senior Mikelle Mancini won her first title at first singles in an electrifying match against hard-hitting competitor Morgan Anderson from Desert Hills.

Mancini, who is also a starter on Judge Memorial's basketball team, won the title at third singles as a freshman.

"I told her that she came in as a state champ and was going to go out as a state champ," Judge coach Lani Wilcox said. "She's such an incredible, coachable kid. If I had a team of Mikelle's every year, coaching would be a breeze."

Mancini jumped out to a 6-2 first-set win by controlling the tempo of the match and keeping Anderson off her rhythm.

"I've done camps and played with her before, so I knew her game. She's so powerful, so I wanted to mix it up and try to hit it higher and deeper," Mancini said.

Anderson bounced back a bit in the second set and saved three match points at 3-5 and a fourth at 4-5 before Mancini rode it out to a 6-4 win.

"My mom always says to take it one point at a time and I got out of that mindset," Mancini said. "I just went for way too much and had to remind myself to not play not to lose, but to play to win."

At second singles, Davies clinched the overall victory for the Thunder, quickly dispatching Bear River's Krissy Nichols 6-0, 6-1.

"I was the one who clinched it last year, too," Davies said. "I couldn't be happier."

Fifth-seeded Nichols made a great run through the tournament, posting victories over higher-seeds in every round before running into Davies' buzzsaw.

"My main focus was to trust my shots," Davies said. "Instead of being timid, I wanted to go out swinging."