The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Pueblo — Senior Molly Weiss had been to the state semifinals twice. She’d endured the tough matches to get there and survived the long, nervous night before.

In her third trip to a semifinal, the lessons of two brutal losses finally paid off. Steamboat Springs’ No. 3 singles player overcame the early nerves and got better with every point, advancing for the first time in three tries to play for a state championship.

Weiss beat Allison O’Calla­ghan of Mullen on Friday, 5-7, 6-4, 6-0, and will face off against Amanda Lee of Niwot at 9 a.m. today in Pueblo.

She was the only Steamboat player to win in the semifinals and is one of three Sailor entries that will compete today in the final day of the state tournament.

The team played its way out of a chance to finish in one of the tournament’s top spots, but still has plenty to play for.

“I’m just really excited,” Weiss said. “This girl will be tough, but I like playing tough opponents because I have nothing to lose.”

Weiss took the long road to the breakthrough win. A notorious first-set player, she fell behind early and grew frustrated. She’d already fallen to O’Callaghan earlier in the season and appeared well on her way to doing so again.

The whole team seemed equally stricken.

Around her, all Weiss could see was her teammates struggling. No. 2 singles player Shelby Reed, playing on one side of Weiss’ court, fell in two sets. Steamboat’s No. 1 doubles squad of Sara Bearss and Kylee Swiggart played on the court on Weiss’ other side and also fell in two sets.

“I knew I was the last one,” Weiss said. “It helped motivate me in my match.”

Her other two trips to the state semifinals came as a member of the No. 1 doubles squad. She lost both and only managed to place at state once in her first three trips.

Taking up singles for the first time in her prep career this season was a learning process, she said — one that continued even in the match Friday.

She started to play better in the second set and pulled away for a two-game victory.

Finally, in the third, she couldn’t be stopped, growing more powerful as the match went on. Her serves flew with more zip and her forehand turned from inaccurate to commanding.

She didn’t lose a single game in the final set and gave up only one point in the final game.

“Once my energy got up and I started hitting the ball, I got a lot more confidence,” Weiss said. “In the third set, she really lost her energy and motivation. She got down on herself, which was what happened to me in the first set.”

Weiss will need all of her third-set focus if she’s to claim a state title. Lee beat Weiss easily earlier in the season, 6-0, 6-2.

“The first time we played wasn’t one of my best matches,” Weiss said. “Going into the finals, I know I have nothing to lose because she has beaten me, so I can just go out and play hard.”

The rest of the team fared far better in the consolation playback bracket than it did in the semifinals.

Reed could do little against Niwot’s Claire Runge in the morning, but she was back to dominating in the afternoon. She won, 6-3, 6-0, against Christine Kato of Greeley West.

“I went out there telling myself I was not going to lose,” Reed said. “She plays a game I hate, which is slice, so I had to move her a lot, and it worked.”

Bearss and Swiggart also rebounded well, though doing so with a little more drama.

The pair, streaky all tournament, sat one game away from winning the third set, but ended up in a tiebreak, finally advancing to today’s third-place match when a Cheyenne Mountain return soared several feet long.

“This is just what we do,” Swiggart said, still trying to catch her breath five minutes after the final point. “We were up most of the (third) set, but it was really even. Every game was going to deuce. We didn’t just want it. We needed it.”

The No. 2 doubles team of Mandy Thielemann and Hayley Richman were eliminated without even playing. The team that defeated them Thursday fell in the semifinals and ruined their opportunity to play in the playback bracket.

Alexis and Valerie Lezin managed to take their No. 3 doubles losses to three sets but couldn’t capitalize. Claire Parsons and Kaitie Breisch, the No. 4 doubles pair, lost their first set of the day via tiebreaker and never recovered, falling 6-3 in the second semifinal set, then 6-0, 7-5 in the playback semifinal.