LONGMONT >> The weather Tuesday may not have been the most favorable for outdoor girls tennis, but inside the bubbles at the Longmont Athletic Club, No. 1 Peak to Peak had no trouble making it rain on No. 4 Holy Family.

The Class 3A state team dual tournament semifinal was the perfect showcase for the type of firepower that the Pumas were capable of, as they defeated the Tigers, 6-1. Now, they’ll face either No. 2 Prospect Ridge Academy or No. 3 Colorado Academy on May 13 for the state championship.

Due to the inclement weather, PRA and CA had to move their semifinal match to Holy Family’s courts next Monday at 4 p.m.

Peak to Peak senior Lena Crotty beat Holy Family senior Annabelle Kenny, 6-1, 6-1, and looks to put on an even better showing at the individual state tournament at Memorial Park in Colorado Springs later this week.

“It’s definitely super exciting. I feel really confident,” said Crotty, who leads a varsity squad of nine upperclassmen. “I feel like because we have so many veteran players who have played all four years, that experience that we’ve done it before definitely gives a lot of confidence going into (individual state and the team finals).”

Crotty now enjoys an 11-2 dual record and dotted the exclamation point for her individual run at the Class 3A Region 5 tournament held at Dawson last week. She defeated Dawson’s Isabelle Jacobsma, who handed her one of her two losses, with a 6-4, 7-6 showing.

“I guess I’m just swinging more freely because I just have more confidence in my strokes and my placement. Definitely coming off a 6-1 win (against Kenny) has felt pretty good, and all of my team state matches, I’ve won pretty convincingly.”

Her No. 2 singles teammate, senior Sydney Lewis, likewise defeated Holy Family junior Lauren Stonehocker with a 6-1, 6-1 campaign, although it took Lewis a little bit longer to adjust to the spring season after a long basketball stint with the Pumas.

She said that honing her serve, especially over the past couple of matches, has taken her gameplay to a new level this season. She’s hoping she can carry that energy into an individual crown Saturday.

“I felt like I actually had a pretty tough start to my season,” Lewis said. “I had a couple losses right in a row, and so it was just warming up and getting back into the flow of tennis, I guess. It was just getting that confidence back all throughout the season. Team state has been really good, just because it’s such a team environment that everyone else is counting on me. It’s like, ‘OK, got to win. Got to put it in here.’”

She now sits at 14-3.

Down but not out yet

The Tigers may have only picked up a win from their 1 doubles squad of Olivia Kingsley and Reagan Leary against the Pumas, but the confidence is still high among the team heading into the individual state competition.

They qualified all seven lines for the upcoming tournament. Kenny, at 6-foot-2, will be making her third appearance at individual state thanks to two particular strengths.

“I think it’s definitely my serve when it’s on, but I think the power I can get from my height is very helpful,” Kenny said. “I think (this match) just helped me realize that it’s not always about the winner. It’s out-rallying, mixing up the shots, and hopefully that’ll help me going into state.”

Stonehocker explained that the Tigers have shown considerable growth from the first match through Tuesday, with the last three doubles lines moving up from junior varsity this year. She said that Lewis sped up the game more than she was accustomed to, and that contributed to her loss.

“It’s a good team. Most of our lines are new, but they’ve come together really well. I think we didn’t lose that many matches. Everyone gets along really well and we’re just here to have some fun,” Stonehocker said. “All being new, they all made it to state. It shows how they started in (varsity two) and how they’ve been able to grow as people and as players and get to that level.”