2023 Girls Tennis State Tournament Advance Release
Posted: Sunday, October 22, 2023 - 6:37 PM
Girls Tennis opens the Minnesota State High School League’s fall schedule of state tournaments with a four-day run that begins on Tuesday, Oct. 24 at two Minneapolis locations. The Class AA event will be played at the Baseline Tennis Center on the University of Minnesota campus and the Class A tournament is at the Read-Sweatt Family Tennis Center.
The team tournament is Tuesday and Wednesday, and the individual portion of the tournament is Thursday and Friday.
Since 1997, only three schools have won the Class AA Girls Tennis team championship. Edina started a run of team titles in 1997 that wasn’t threatened through the 2019 season. A tournament wasn’t held in 2020 because of the global pandemic, and from there Minnetonka won consecutive championships in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Another member school is projected to be added to the championship mix.
Rochester Mayo is the top seed in the Class AA field and with good reason. The Spartans, the big-school runner-up in 2022 to Minnetonka, have four victories, collectively, over the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds this week. Rochester Mayo defeated No. 2-seeded Edina by 5-2 scores on Aug. 26 and then again on Sept. 20. The Spartans defeated Minnetonka, this week’s No. 3 seed, 7-0 on Aug. 23 and then again, 5-2, on Sept. 9.
Rochester Mayo, making its 26th state tournament appearance, is led by junior Claire Loftus and her sister, Aoife, a ninth-grader. They paired to win the Class AA doubles championship in 2022. But both are in the big-school singles’ field this week. Claire is the No. 2 seed behind top-seeded Cassandra Li, a senior from Eagan, and Aoife is the No. 5 seed. Elk River junior Ava Nelson is the No. 3 seed in the Class AA singles and Wayzata senior Lucy Nabedrick.
It could be a sweep of tennis championships for Rochester schools.
Rochester Lourdes is the defending Class A team champion and top seed this week. The Eagles have won 14 small-school championships since 1978, including 13 since 1997. Rochester Lourdes has five dual losses this season, all to Class AA schools. Blake is the No. 2 seed, followed by Pine City, St. James and Crookson, respectively.
Rochester Lourdes seniors Elyse Palen and Caroline Daly are the No. 3 seed in the Class A doubles field. They were the doubles runner-up in 2022.
Breck’s Isabelle Einess, a senior, is top-seeded in her quest for a repeat Class A singles championship. Blake senior Nana Vang and ninth-grader Fatemeh Vang are the top seeds in the Class A doubles field.
