Los Alamos High girls tennis takes third at district finals
Los Alamos High girls tennis rallied from a 5-2 semifinal loss to Santa Fe Prep and beat Robertson 5-4 for third at district.
Los Alamos High School’s girls tennis team closed district play with a bronze-medal finish, beating Robertson 5-4 after opening the weekend with a 5-1 quarterfinal win over St. Michael’s and a 5-2 semifinal loss to Santa Fe Prep.
The result reflected a full-team effort from Lucia Rudin, Alea Kretz, Julia Robel, Ajla Bock, Olivia Hamilton, Lorrin Fordham, Caris Hatler and freshman Vivian Haigh, with coaches Lindsay Gibson, Timur Khazratkulov and Travis Gibson guiding the roster through the bracket. Key points in the third-place win came from Haigh, Hamilton, Fordham, and the doubles teams of Rudin and Robel and Fordham and Bock.
The finish marked steady progress for Los Alamos, which has moved from fifth place to fourth place to third place over the last three district seasons. That climb mattered in a bracket that left little margin for error, especially after the semifinals sent the Hilltoppers into a tight third-place match instead of a run at the title.
Los Alamos also lost only one senior from its top eight, a sign the program should enter the next phase of postseason tennis with much of its lineup intact. The girls were set to move on to the individual tournament in Taos the following weekend, with the New Mexico Activities Association scheduling the individual championships for May 6-7 and the team championships for May 8-9.
The district bronze also fit into the larger tradition surrounding Los Alamos tennis. NMAA girls records list Los Alamos High School with nine all-time team state championships, a standard that keeps every postseason result in sharper focus. A year ago, the girls finished fourth at district, lost to Robertson in the semifinals and then fell to Santa Fe Prep 2-5 in the match for third place. This spring’s 5-4 win over Robertson gave Los Alamos a cleaner finish and another marker of a program still adding to its postseason record.
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