San Juan girls tennis team takes fourth in region championship, prepares for state tournament

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The San Juan High School girls tennis team closed out their regular season and finished fourth in the Region 15 Championship Monday, September 23 after almost two weeks full of road trips.
On September 13-14 the Lady Broncos traveled to Mt. Pleasant to play in the Central Utah Invitational. They finished tenth as a team but picked up three match wins in the tournament.
Emily Pugh and Markie Bowers won their second doubles first round match 8-0 over Canyon View’s Chloe Neil and Mackenzie Beck.
Marley Decker got a nice win in her third singles semifinal matchup 8-3 over Emery’s Dorian Price.
And Shayli Bake and Amelia McFarland won their first doubles final match 8-1 over Millard’s Kreashia Stevens and Emma Robison.
San Juan hit the road again on September 17 to take on Gunnison Valley in Gunnison, UT. They battled hard but fell just one match short, losing to the Lady Bulldogs 3-2.
McFarland and Bake won their first doubles match against Alaina Lambert and Paige Peterson with scores of 6-0 and 6-3.
In second doubles it took a tie-breaker, but it was Pugh and Bowers over Autumn Anderson and Bryler Blackburn 6-4 and 6-6 (8-6).
The Lady Broncos suffered another close, tough loss to rival Grand County to close out the regular season this past Thursday, September 19 in Moab.
Claire Warner lost the first set of her third singles match 7-5 but rallied to win the next two 6-4 and 6-1, taking the win in three sets.
Pugh and Bowers won their second doubles match in straight sets over Holly Hazlett and Adalye Ross 6-0 and 6-2. But the Lady Red Devils took the team match 3-2.
On Monday, September 23 the San Juan girls were in Monroe, UT for the Region 15 Championship, where they took fourth place as a team.
The second doubles team of Pugh and Bowers took second place in the tournament. McFarland and Bake took third in the first doubles bracket.
Claire Warner came home fifth in the first singles championship, as did Sydney Murdock in second singles. And Bailey Moulton finished sixth in the first singles competition.
The Lady Broncos will play in the first round of the Utah 3A Girls Tennis State Tournament on Thursday, October 3 at Brighton High School in Cottonwood Heights. The remainder of the tourney is Friday and Saturday, October 4-5 at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City.