NIWOT >> Niwot junior Saha Kolli is tried and true at her No. 1 singles position for the Cougars, and on Thursday during the Class 4A Region 5 tennis tournament that they hosted, she once again proved why.

She easily dispatched her finals opponent, Silver Creek’s Katie Reitz, with a 6-1, 6-1 score to secure her spot in the Class 4A individual state tournament, which is scheduled for next week at Pueblo City Park. She placed third overall at 1 singles last year.

“I’m just staying consistent and rallying and staying in the point,” she said, adding that her groundstrokes have helped carry her to victory this year.

Kolli’s season, however, hasn’t been all rosy.

Over the past few weeks, she’s not only had to deal with tennis elbow, but she’s had to battle a foot injury as well. She’s hoping that her ability to adjust on the fly can help vault her to a state crown next week.

“It’s been an interesting season, especially with how I’ve defaulted so many matches and the different injuries I still have,” Kolli said.

“I’m just trying to adapt and still play, even though the conditions are not ideal. The opponents are definitely different at state and there’s more competition, but I’m hoping I can try to adapt and still do well.”

The Cougars won the regional title with 62 total points, while Monarch and Longmont settled for a tie at second with 36 points apiece.

Shooting 2 the top

A parade of hugs awaited Longmont senior Caroline Pomeroy in the immediate aftermath of her No. 2 singles finals victory. Her regional crown came just a year after she struggled in the 1 singles realm.

This year, she’s been nothing short of dominant and showcased as much in her 6-0, 6-2 campaign over Monarch’s McKenzie Bergeson on a Thursday afternoon that couldn’t decide whether or not it wanted to be cloudy.

“(My team is) so amazing. I mean, every single one of them, it just means so much to have a team that supports you in every single match, whether you win or lose. The encouragement makes such a difference,” Pomeroy said. “I think it was a really necessary change that allowed me to play to my full potential and still get some wins in there without feeling defeated, so I think it made a really good positive change.”

During her last match of the competition, Pomeroy said that Bergeson played a similar game to herself, as both ladies featured a strong forehand. Pomeroy simply tried to predict where Bergeson would hit the ball and used that to her advantage.

Now, she’ll be headed back to state for the first time since her sophomore year.

Last chance, you

Bergeson couldn’t pull off a victory over Pomeroy, but that didn’t end the senior’s chances of qualifying for her first-ever state tournament. She just had to wait a few more hours to secure that honor when she defeated Centaurus’ Francie Messenbaugh in a 6-3, 6-1 playback.

The two have been thick as thieves after playing against each other last month.

“That was my whole goal all four years and I’ve never been this close before, so I’m so excited,” Bergeson said. “It was really hard to be playing such a close friend to me, but I’ve played her before. I knew her because she goes to Centaurus — and I know a lot of people at Centaurus — so we kind of just connected at our last match.”

Messenbaugh said she was “fired up” from the three-set playback match that she won just 30 minutes earlier. She defeated Standley Lake’s Ciprina Ramirez-Carson with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 showing and said that her campaign at Niwot on Thursday gives her that much more fuel to come back even stronger as a senior next year.

“It was really fun that I got to play her as my last match. Even though I lost, I’m glad that she won and is able to go to state,” Messenbaugh said. “I was hitting well at the beginning, and then I think I just started to get more in my head during the second set, but it was still a good match. I’m fine with the way I played, and she played really well.”

Local state qualifiers:

• 1 singles: Saha Kolli, Niwot (champion)

• 2 singles: Caroline Pomeroy, Longmont (champion); McKenzie Bergeson, Monarch

• 3 singles: Sylvie Wilcox, Longmont (champion); Hazel Awsumb, Niwot

• 1 doubles: Samantha Zacky/Anne Haley, Niwot (champions); Kaila Patterson/Kaylin Kroeger, Longmont

• 2 doubles: Hannah Nelson/Jordan Rutkowski, Niwot (champions); Hannah Corujo/Quinn Sartell, Monarch

• 3 doubles: Emory Rich/Eliana Spiridellis, Niwot (champions); Shea Graham/Sofia McMurry, Longmont

• 4 doubles: Amy Calderon/Nina Richards, Niwot (champions); Grace Hartmann/Penelope Morris, Monarch