This year was a little different for the Edina girls tennis team.
“This is the one year we were nervous,” sophomore Sophia Reddy said.
Edina — winners of the past 18 state tournaments — came into this week’s Class 2A tournament as the No. 2 seed, having lost to top-seeded Prior Lake during the regular season. Edina was young, with a 10-player lineup that featured three sophomores, one freshman and two eighth-graders, and seemingly vulnerable.
But the underdog role wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for the Hornets.
“It was kind of good because we just wanted it that much more,” senior Hannah Hankinson said. I think in the long run it was a good thing, because we worked that much harder.”
And got that much better. Edina, which fell 5-2 to Prior Lake on Sept. 9, beat the Lakers 5-2 on Wednesday at Baseline Tennis Center to win its 19th straight state crown.
Despite his team’s second straight runner-up finish, Prior Lake coach P.J. Priest said he was proud of his girls. The Lakers fought through injuries to their top three singles players at various points through the season. No. 1 singles player Savanna Crowell skipped the individual sectionals with shin splints, and Taylor Jackson, who usually plays No. 3 singles but played at No. 1 doubles against Edina, was out for five weeks before coming back just in time for state.
Still, Prior Lake put together a good enough season to earn the No. 1 seed.
“We’ve had such an incredible season with such adversity that walking away with a second-place trophy, you’ve got to hang your head high,” Priest said.
Priest said Edina improved immensely in doubles since the teams met during the regular season. Priest said the Lakers stacked that part of their lineup, hoping to win one or two of the matches, but the Hornets swept all three.
“That’s the difference,” Priest said.
Reddy said as a team this was the most the Hornets had improved from the beginning of a season to the end.
The possibility of Edina’s championship streak ending might have played a hand in that. Reddy said the regular-season loss to the Lakers reminded Edina it could lose.
As a result, Reddy said the Hornets, set on extending their state record championship streak, spent ample time practicing this fall.
“We’ve definitely come so far,” Hankinson said.
That made the Hornets’ 19th straight victory one to relish.
“Winning the past several years has been super great, but it hasn’t been over the top because we kind of expected it,” Reddy said. “But this year, it’s just means so much more, because we’ve all worked that much harder.”
“Every year we somehow bring our best game at the end,” Hankinson said. “It does make it satisfying.”
And though Prior Lake entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed, Priest didn’t consider the Hornets to be the underdog.
“Until somebody beats them in the state tournament, they’re always going to be the favorite,” he said. “That’s just the way it is.”
BRIEFLY
No. 3 seed Mahtomedi beat No. 4 Eagan 4-3 in the Class 2A third-place match. … Blake won the Class A championship at the Reed-Sweatt Tennis Center with a 7-0 victory over Crookston. Rochester Lourdes beat St. James 4-3 in the third-place match.
