For the first time in nearly a decade, St. Thomas More has won a girls state tennis title. The Cavaliers secured the win on Tuesday in Rapid City during the state tournament at Sioux Park.
Overall, St. Thomas More scored 488 team points. Sioux Falls Christian, who won it last year, placed second with 433.5 points. Vermillion (355) came in at the third spot, Rapid City Christian (297) placed fourth, and Huron (294) rounded out the top five.
The Cavaliers won three of the singles flights and one flight in doubles. Amity Strand won in Singles Flight 3, Evie Reinicke finished first in Singles Flight 4, and Elliya Strand took the top spot in Singles Flight 5. Shriya Gangineni placed second in Singles Flight 2, Athena Franciliso claimed third in Singles Flight 1, and Abigail Oaks finished sixth in Singles Flight 6.
Franciliso and Gangineni, the two seniors on the squad, won in Doubles Flight 1. In Doubles Flight 2, A. Strand and Reinicke snagged third, and E. Strand and Oaks were runner-up in Doubles Flight 3.
For Cavaliers head coach Chris Grant, he’s proud of the way the girls played, especially down the stretch in the tournament.
“Those doubles matches were critical. We had a lot of first round byes, which helped. But then we won the subsequent matches and we came into [Tuesday] strong,” coach Grant said. “I told the girls, 'win or lose, play your hearts out, leave everything on the court, do the best you can, and just let it be,' and they did that very thing.”
Grant took time to mention his two senior players, Franciliso and Gangineni, who he said have a special place in his heart.
“I say they’re special, because they’ve been on the team for many years. They’re team captains. Those girls led the way, and it was just gratifying to see them work with the younger players, the JV kids coming up, the future of the team,” explained Grant. “They’re going to be a big, big loss to us, I just love those girls. They represented St. Thomas More well. We just couldn’t be more proud of them.”
For Franciliso, she was thrilled with how her team left it all on the court.
“I’m really happy, the happiest I’ve ever been. We got the team title and we got our doubles title, so I’m just really glad I got it with [Gangineni], and yeah, I’m super stoked,” Franciliso stated. “I felt like these last two years we were so close. We were bummed out, because we were always just a few points away. We can finally celebrate it.”
St. Thomas More finished runner-up in both ’22 and ’23. Gangineni echoed her teammates thoughts on the event.
“The biggest thing that we came here to get was that team title, and I’m really glad that we were able to pull that through,” she exclaimed. “I’m really proud of that doubles title, third one in a row, so that’s a big deal for us.”
It’s the first state girls tennis title for the Cavaliers since 2015, back when tennis was under a one-class format. Coach Grant knew it wouldn’t be easy this year, as there was a lot of strong competition at the event.
“Well, we played well all season. I knew we’d be competitive at the state tournament, but I also knew we had some tough competition,” he said. “Especially with Sioux Falls Christian, Rapid City Christian, Pierre, and a couple other teams out there. So, we knew we had to come in confident, strong, and focused, and our girls did that very thing.”
After spending quite a few years’ coaching boys tennis at St. Thomas More, this was Chris Grant’s first year coaching the girls. It concludes with the celebration of a state championship.
