Cheyenne Mountain starts season off strong

Cheyenne Mountain girls tennis coach Dave Adams didn't expect to start the season with win against a 5A team that placed eighth in the state last year.

But the host Indians, with two players returning from last year's 4A state championship team, started off a snow-delayed season with a 5-2 win over Lewis-Palmer on Tuesday.

"We're definitely ahead of schedule on the timeline of where I thought we would be at this point in the season," Adams said.

The Indians (1-0) won every match except No. 1 singles and No. 4 doubles, where they faced undefeated opponents. Lewis-Palmer's No. 1 singles player, senior Deanna Thirkell (4-0), beat Cheyenne Mountain sophomore Meha Semwal in a second-set tiebreaker to remain unbeaten.

"It feels good to still be undefeated, and definitely a little different than last season," said Thirkell, who intends to play for Colorado College this fall. "I let up a little in the second set when I was up 4-0, and when she came back, I thought we might be going to a third set."

Semwal, who won the state No. 1 doubles title last year, is adjusting to singles play.

"Meha had a great match against a very skilled opponent," Adams said. "She's a sophomore and has a lot of great tennis ahead of her."

The Lewis-Palmer No. 4 doubles team of Alison Smith and Maria Finger made it four wins in row despite Cheyenne Mountain's Anne Elder and Katie Porter forcing a third set.

Lewis-Palmer (3-1, 3-0 5A Metro) will rely on six seniors this season.

"A lot of these girls were the reason we did so well last season," coach Paul Kardel said.