RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – The Stevens High School girls tennis team was honored by Mayor Jason Salamun at Monday\u2019s city council meeting.<\/p>\n
Salamun recognized the team\u2019s win during the 2026 Class AA state championships. It is the team\u2019s third straight state title and its fifth win in the last six years.<\/p>\n
The team took home top spots in both the singles flight 1 and doubles flight 1 matches. It is the first time the team has done so since 2006.<\/p>\n
Team members and coaching staff attended the meeting and received challenge coins from Salamun.<\/p>\n
Head coach Jason Olson said winning the title this year was more of an accomplishment than the team\u2019s record would suggest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was the first year we were not favored to win the state tournament,\u201d Olson said. \u201cWe came in before the season ranked third or fourth by most people because we graduated more than anybody else out of the top five teams. We lost four of our returning varsity kids and every one of our kids had to jump up at least two spots. One of our girls jumped up, like, ten spots to make the varsity team this year. So they, really, didn\u2019t know they weren\u2019t the favorite and they didn\u2019t play like they weren\u2019t the favorite the whole year. They just came out and competed all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here<\/a> to report it.<\/p>\n