ST. GEORGE — The Crimson Cliffs Mustangs repeated as state champions in 4A boys tennis on Saturday, although they are sharing this year’s title with two other schools.
In what Utah High School Activities Association officials said was an “unprecedented” occurrence, three teams finished with the same number of total points in the state tournament. Crimson Cliffs, Ridgeline and Green Canyon all posted a final tally of 11 points apiece.
“It was a perfect storm for everyone,” Crimson Cliffs head coach Colin Brown told St. George News. “I mean, we were undefeated in our region and Ridgeline was undefeated in their region. But there were some teams that stepped up, like Green Canyon, mostly, that won some very critical matches, which made it so that we ended up all sharing it.”
The state tournament was staged Friday and Saturday at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City.
This year’s state seedings were determined by the UHSAA’s RPI rankings, rather than how the players fared in region play. That made for some quirks in the brackets, including at least one instance where a player was seeded higher than another player from his same region, despite having lost to that other player three times during regular-season play.
Additionally, players seeded No. 4 and lower all had to play a play-in match on Friday morning in order to land a spot in the state quarterfinals later that day, while the top three seeds all had first-round byes.
Although points were awarded for first-round matches in previous years, they weren’t this year, Brown explained.
“So instead of getting two points the first day, you can only get one point,” he said.
That in turn, makes it so there are fewer overall points available, which thereby makes ties more likely, he noted.
“It has happened before in the old system,” Brown said. “But with the new RPI system, you’ll see more teams sharing the state title,” he predicted. Looking at last year in comparison, Crimson Cliffs scored 20 team points to win the state title, while runner-up Logan had 16 in 2021.
On Saturday, Crimson Cliffs saw two of its players advance to the finals and win their respective brackets, with senior Liam Duffin sweeping in first singles and Luke Jolley winning in second singles.
Duffin, who won the state title in No. 3 singles last year as a junior, faced three Region 10 opponents on his path to the No. 1 singles championship. Duffin defeated Dixie’s Caleb Kroll in the quarterfinals, Desert Hills’ Jaden Wittwer in the semifinals and Pine View’s Kaden Koch in the finals.
“He only played people from our region but he had tough matches the entire time,” Brown said.
And in second singles, Jolley, a freshman who was seeded No. 2 in the bracket, first beat a Region 11 opponent from Mountain Crest in the quarterfinals, after which he defeated Dixie’s Gavin Bishop 6-1, 6-3 in the semifinals. That sent Jolley to the finals match to face sophomore Jackson Holman of Desert Hills, with Jolley winning, 6-1, 6-3.
Brown said he saw Jolley as a potential state champion right from the start of the season.
“I always thought from the very beginning he would be a state champ,” Brown said of Jolley. “He’s very tough mentally, which makes him a great player. He wasn’t really challenged in region but man, he was challenged at state. He just stayed focused and was able to pull out a win from Desert Hills, who played the absolutely phenomenal Jackson Holman, who is an up-and-comer who is going to be a great player.”
Meanwhile, in the finals of both the third singles and second doubles brackets, Ridgeline and Green Canyon faced each other, with Ridgline’s Ayden Rupp winning in third singles and Green Canyon’s duo of Zach Crane and Carson Shakespear prevailing in second doubles.
And in the first doubles bracket, Green Canyon’s Chad Jeppson and Luke Westwood made the finals, where they were defeated by Snow Canyon juniors Braden Koch and Bryce Jensen. Koch and Jensen won the match, 6-3, 7-6 (10), with the second set going to a tiebreaker.
By defeating Green Canyon in that match, the Snow Canyon duo thereby helped Region 10 rival Crimson Cliffs snag a share of the state title.
Crimson ended up with two finals wins, while Ridgeline, Green Canyon and Snow Canyon each won one finals match. To see complete results of all brackets and team point totals, visit UHSAA’s 4A boys tennis tournament page.
As only one physical first-place trophy existed, the teams took turns posing for pictures with it afterward. Crimson Cliffs ended up taking it home; duplicate hardware will be sent to the other two schools later.
Brown said he’s expecting the Mustangs to be a top contender next year as well.
“I have some kids that are lights-out, best-in-state coming up,” he said. “Next year, if everyone showed up who’s supposed to be on our team, no one would beat us. We could beat anyone in 6A, too. That’s how good we’d be.”
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.