Following the Deer Creek girls tennis team’s regional championship on Sept. 25, head coach Peachy Quinton was confident her team had what it took to compete with the best teams at the 4A state tournament Oct. 8-10.
Quinton thought the Riverhawks would go as far as their one doubles team, seniors Brinley Studdert and Chandler Davies, could carry them.
And the duo did not disappoint. Studdert and Davies claimed victory in the one doubles championship during the tournament held at Salt Lake City’s Liberty Park Tennis Center. The two upset the top seeds from Green Canyon 6-2, 6-4 in the finals.
Studdert and Davies’ victory may be the first individual tennis championship for any Wasatch Back team, according to Quinton, but it also earned Deer Creek five critical team points. The Riverhawks’ total of 32 team points was just enough to tie with Green Canyon for third place in what was Deer Creek’s first state tournament in their inaugural season. The Riverhawks finished one point behind Highland in second place and eight behind state champions Desert Hills.
“It was huge, and we were all thrilled with it,” Quinton said. “We kind of said if we finished top four, that would be great, and if we finished higher than top four, then we would have overperformed, and we really had some players come out and pull off some good wins.”
Quinton said the one doubles team’s win last Saturday was the cherry on top of what she estimates to have been a 33-1 season for Studdert and Davies. They both played three years of singles at Wasatch under Quinton, before deciding to give doubles a try this season.
“They just had an outstanding season,” Quinton said. “And it wasn’t a walk in the park for them by any stretch. Their final match was against a really good Green Canyon team, and so they just worked their tails off and came away with that win.”
Deer Creek three singles player Siena Miller was also instrumental in helping the team finish third, reaching the three singles championship match and earning four points for the Riverhawks. Miller fell in that match 1-6, 7-5, 2-6 to Highland’s player.
“That was huge,” Quinton said. “I don’t want to say it was unexpected, because she’s a fantastic player, but it was just a little bit of a harder path for her to get there. She beat some really tough players. … She just gave it everything she had and got us those points that we needed to finish up in that top three.”
Quinton said the team celebrated the accomplishments on the courts but is excited to celebrate further at their team banquet next week. She said administrators and others from Deer Creek were at the tournament supporting them and shooting over congratulatory messages. The team’s regional championship provided the first sports trophy in school history.
While the Riverhawks will graduate Studdert, Davies and Miller, they will return three players from this year’s team and add plenty of players from their strong JV team and incoming freshman next season. Quinton believes the returning players will come back even stronger next season after an offseason filled with lessons and tournaments.
“We take some time off now,” Quinton said. “The nice thing about tennis is you can get better on your own. … So they’ll just work really hard to come back next year and earn their spot.”
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