Choice Health and Fitness hosted a state championship for the first time ever Friday morning.
The results weren't any different than the previous 11, though.
Grand Forks Red River is once again the girls state tennis champion. The Roughriders defeated West Fargo 5-0 in the finals to earn their 12th straight team title.
"It's something we work for all year long," said Red River coach Greg LaDouceur, whose team has won 164 consecutive duals dating back to 2001. "I want to give the girls all the credit. They came back here and showed up this morning and they fought real hard. West Fargo gave us a great match. Kudos to that team, but fortunately for us, we came out on top.
"Our players rose to the challenge, fought back and it was a nice 5-0 victory for our team."
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Red River finished the season losing just one match in the team setting -- a No. 2 doubles match in the state semifinals.
In the finals, the Roughriders won straight-set matches at No. 2 singles, No. 3 singles and No. 1 doubles to clinch the championship. Then, Mimi Yunker won a three-set match at No. 1 singles and the No. 2 doubles team of Paige Relling and Ellen Larsen outlasted West Fargo's Mariah Stein and Jamie Freden in three sets to finish off the 5-0 win.
"It's a great accomplishment," LaDouceur said. "Any time you can win a championship, it's great. When you can keep adding on and get that 12th one, it's very special to the Red River tennis program."
West Fargo earned its first-ever trip to the state finals with back-to-back dramatic wins on Thursday afternoon. The Packers were tied 2-2 in both their quarterfinal and semifinal duals, but managed to pull out third-set victories in the decisive match to reach the finals.
But the Packers were overmatched by a Roughrider squad that's strong at the top of the lineup.
"Even before the school year started, we were talking about this year, knowing it would be pretty tough," Red River senior doubles player Lalangi Marasinghe said. "To finally finish it, it's great."
Marasinghe is the lone senior on the Roughrider team.
"It's kind of bittersweet," she said. "I'm glad that we could win, but I'm sad that I'll be leaving next year. But I'm leaving it in good hands."
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Smith withdraws, locals reach semis
The only big surprise on the first day of the individual tournament was that West Fargo's Sammie Smith, the No. 3 seed from the East Region and a state singles championship contender, had to withdraw from the tournament due to a broken left thumb.
Smith beat West Region singles champ Caitlin Bakke on Thursday in the team portion of the state tournament to send West Fargo to its first state finals, despite the injury.
Highlighting the state singles semifinals is defending champion Karen Moe of Fargo South. She will take on Bismarck's Tyne Oberlander. On the other half of the draw, Red River's Cindy Lim will take on Bakke.
In the doubles semifinals, a pair of Red River teams will play against each other. Marasinghe and Yunker, who won the state championship together in 2009, will play Maddie Anderson and Alexis Caoili. A pair of West Region teams -- Bismarck St. Mary's Mary Roller and Alicia Beck and Minot's Megan Sherven and Jenna Coggins -- will go head-to-head.
The finals are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today at Choice.
Call Schlossman at (701) 780-1129; (800) 477-6572, ext. 1129; or send e-mail to bschlossman@gfherald.com .
