Region 10 girls tennis: Crimson Cliffs, Desert Hills, Dixie all start regular season with sweep victories

Written by Jeff Richards
September 2, 2022
Dixie High School senior Kylie Kezos returns a serve from Cedar's Sophia Parson, Cedar City, Utah, Sept. 1, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

ST. GEORGE — Region 10’s girls tennis season kicked off on Thursday with three decisive 5-0 sweeps.

Desert Hills and Dixie both swept their opponents on the road, winning at Hurricane and Cedar, respectively. Meanwhile, the Crimson Cliffs Mustangs won at home over Pine View.

At Crimson Cliffs, the Mustangs won all five of their varsity matches in straight sets. Senior London Wunderli led the way in first singles, defeating Pine View senior Emma Farish, 6-0, 6-0. Wunderli has switched over to singles this year after finishing runner-up in first doubles at the state tournament last year.

Also winning for Crimson Cliffs on Thursday were junior Amanda Beckstrand in second singles, senior Bailey Speakman in third singles, and both doubles teams (Camryn Stanger and Whitney Matheson in first doubles and Carys Obray and Kate Owen in second doubles).

Meanwhile, at Hurricane, the Desert Hills Thunder marked Dave Smith’s return as the team’s head coach with a similar sweep of the Tigers.

Smith had previously coached Desert Hills from 2016-20, guiding the Thunder to 50 straight region wins during that span.

With Smith returning to the helm following a two-year retirement, the Desert Hills girls are looking to rise in dominance once again. The Thunder last captured the state title in 2019.

Desert Hills High School tennis players opened their season with a sweep at Hurricane, Hurricane, Utah, Sept. 1, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Dave Smith, St. George News

“We are young, we have desire and we have dedicated girls,” Smith said of this year’s Thunder team, which includes some 44 players counting junior varsity athletes.

At Hurricane on Thursday, Desert Hills freshman Sara White defeated Hurricane junior Rachel Werrett in first singles, 6-0, 6-0. Another Thunder underclassman, sophomore Megan Lewis, defeated Hurricane freshman Emily Loveless by the same score in No. 2 singles.

Also winning in straight sets for Desert Hills were junior Brianna Hartman in third singles; Tessa Fielding and Ella Pulsipher in first doubles; and Brooklyn Price and Taylee Anderson in second doubles.

Smith said he expects this year’s Region 10 regular season, which runs through Sept. 27, to be competitive.

“We have a strong region this year with Dixie, Snow Canyon and Crimson all having strong programs,” Smith said “I like that many of the girls from all the schools know each other and play tournaments sometimes together, too.”

And at Cedar High on Thursday, Dixie’s three singles players all won straight sets by scores of 6-0, 6-0. Dixie senior Kylie Kezos led the way in first singles, with freshman Fiona Fackrell and junior Meg Fraser both sweeping in similar fashion in second and third singles, respectively. 

Dixie’s first doubles team of Libby Larkin and Natalie Little defeated Cedar’s Jenna Crain and Marley Geddes, 6-2, 6-2.

The only match of the day that went to a third set was in second doubles, where Dixie’s Katelyn Jennings and Zoe Reber defeated Cedar’s Briley Johnston and Taya Torres, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.

Following is the rest of Region 10’s regular season schedule, with each team playing the other six teams once and having one bye. Matches are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. by default:

  • Sept. 6: Cedar at Hurricane, Crimson at Snow Canyon, Pine View at Desert Hills.
  • Sept. 8: Cedar at Snow Canyon, Dixie at Desert Hills. (Pine View will play at Hurricane on Sept. 27 instead.)
  • Sept. 13: Crimson Cliffs at Cedar, Hurricane at Dixie, Snow Canyon at Desert Hills.
  • Sept. 15: Desert Hills at Crimson Cliffs, Dixie at Pine View, Hurricane at Snow Canyon.
  • Sept. 20: Cedar at Pine View, Hurricane at Crimson Cliffs, Dixie at Snow Canyon.
  • Sept. 22: Desert Hills at Cedar, Crimson Cliffs at Dixie, Snow Canyon at Pine View.
  • Sept. 27: Pine View at Hurricane.

The Region 10 tournament will be played at the Tonaquint Tennis Center in St. George on Sept. 30. That will be followed by the state 4A tournament at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Oct. 8.

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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

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