Region 10 girls tennis: Crimson Cliffs unbeaten in regular season; Desert Hills, Dixie finish strong

Written by Jeff Richards
September 27, 2022
Players warm up before the Crimson Cliffs vs. Cedar tennis match, Cedar City, Utah, Sept. 21, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

ST. GEORGE — The Crimson Cliffs High School girls tennis team finished off the regular season with a bang last week, winning its last three matches on consecutive days. 

Players warm up before the Crimson Cliffs vs. Cedar tennis match, Cedar City, Utah, Sept. 21, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

After sweeping Hurricane at Crimson Cliffs on Tuesday, Sept. 20, the Mustangs traveled to Cedar the following day to make up a contest that had originally been scheduled for Sept. 13 but was postponed due to weather. Crimson defeated the Reds in a 5-0 sweep.

Then, on Thursday, the Mustangs traveled to Dixie High School to play the Flyers in a season-ending showdown. Crimson won the overall match 3-2, although Dixie’s first and second singles players both stayed undefeated in region play with straight-set victories.

In No. 1 singles, Dixie senior Kylie Kezos defeated Crimson Cliffs senior London Wunderli, 6-3, 6-0. And in No. 2 singles, Dixie freshman Fiona Fackrell defeated Crimson junior Amanda Beckstrand, 6-0, 6-2.

“Kylie and Fiona have a perfect record in region, which accurately represents the dedication they’ve had and the work ethic they both bring to practice every day,” said Dixie coach Angela Crooks.

In No. 3 singles, Crimson senior Bailey Speakman picked up the Mustangs’ lone singles win of the day by defeating Dixie junior Meg Fraser, 6-1, 6-4.

Crimson Cliffs swept both doubles matches, with Camryn Stanger and Whitney Matheson defeating Dixie’s Libby Larkin and Natalie Little in first doubles, 6-0, 6-0, and Carys Owens and Kate Obray defeating Zoe Reber and Ally Connon, 6-1, 6-1.

The narrow win over Dixie allowed Crimson Cliffs to finish the regular season undefeated. Four of the victories were 5-0 sweeps, but the Mustangs’ other two wins (over Dixie and Desert Hills) were by scores of 3-2.

Players warm up before the Crimson Cliffs vs. Cedar tennis match, Cedar City, Utah, Sept. 21, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

“The competition in our region this year was probably the best I’ve seen in years because of the depth of talent across multiple schools,” Crimson Cliffs coach Colin Brown told St. George News after the match.

Brown noted that the 11 seniors on the Mustangs’ team this year represent the first graduating class to have spent all four years as members of Crimson Cliffs High School, which first opened in 2019.

Brown noted that this year’s Mustangs have also successfully matched up against larger schools in non-region matches and tournaments throughout the season.

“We’ve had one of our most successful years, with head-to-head match wins against Davis, Skyline, Alta, Provo, Lone Peak and Corner Canyon,” he said. 

The final Region 10 match of the regular season took place Tuesday afternoon, when Pine View traveled to Hurricane and defeated the Tigers, 4-1.

Next up for the seven Region 10 teams will be the region tennis tournament scheduled for this Friday at the Tonaquint Tennis Center in St. George. Matches are scheduled to start at 8 a.m.

Winning region doesn’t necessarily guarantee a top seed at state, however, as once again the seedings for the state brackets will be determined by the players’ Universal Tennis Ratings (UTR), as calculated over the course of the entire season.

The state 4A tournament is scheduled to take place the following weekend, Oct. 7-8, at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City.

Both Brown and Crooks said they and their players are excited for the upcoming postseason. At state, northern Utah’s Green Canyon High School will be looking to defend its state title. The Wolves won handily last year, scoring 21 team points to runner-up Crimson Cliffs’ 10. Desert Hills placed third at state last year with 9 points.

Region 10 girls tennis, final season standings (region record, overall)

  1. Crimson Cliffs 6-0, 9-0.
  2. Desert Hills 5-1, 9-4.
  3. Dixie 4-2, 8-2.
  4. Snow Canyon 3-3, 9-3.
  5. Pine View 2-4, 5-10.
  6. Cedar 1-5, 4-7.
  7. Hurricane 0-6, 3-15.

Photo Gallery

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Richards, a native of Salt Lake City with family roots in Panguitch, lived in Moab for 20 years before joining St. George News in 2017. Jeff is a longtime journalist and secondary school teacher. He and his wife Penny are the parents of five daughters. They also have three young grandsons. Jeff and his family enjoy swimming, camping, sightseeing, reading, and taking pictures.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @stgnews@moabjeff@stgnewssports

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!