Judge Memorial girls are repeat tennis champs

Courtesy photo/Judge Memorial Catholic High School

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The 2012 Judge Memorial Catholic High School tennis team

SALT LAKE CITY — The Judge Memorial Catholic High School girls tennis team won the Utah High School Athletic Association 3A State Championship at Liberty Park Oct. 6, its second title in two years. The Bulldogs are also back-to-back Region X champions.

The school also took the state championship title in 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1987, 1988 and 2011.

Senior Emily Murnin won the number 2 singles state title and sophomore Katie Iwasaki repeated as the third singles champion.

"Coach Lani Wilcox did a phenomenal job," said Dan Quinn, Judge Memorial athletic director. "The great thing about Lani is her ability to orchestrate the girls to be competitive and believe in winning," said Quinn, adding that the second title is the most difficult thing to do in winning two years in a row. "Sometimes teams will get a little relaxed and think it is easy to do. Lani did a great job in keeping the girls focused."

Quinn enjoyed watching Murnin play her final set, he said. "The girl she was playing had no chance," he said. "Murnin was so focused in executing and did an excellent job. And Katie Iwasaki just fought through her championship match and stayed excited and positive. All the girls were real positive and focused and had fun playing."

Wilcox said all three Judge singles players play a lot of competition tennis.

"They all really pounded everyone until Whitney Weisberg, a sophomore and my number 1 singles player, lost in the finals," said Wilcox, Judge Memorial head coach, who played tennis in college and professionally. "Weisberg lost to the girl who took state. All three of the singles players are really strong mentally as well as skill-wise; they always go out and get the job done."

Iwasaki will be a senior next year and will take over the captain position, Wilcox said.

"This was more of a trying season than we had last year," said Wilcox. "Winning the state championship last year had us excited for this year, but some teams jell easier together than others. On the whole I try really hard not to talk about state with the girls. My philosophy is always to have fun; we tend to win more. I leave the points in winning state up to my assistant and tell him, ‘please don’t tell me.’ David May and Jonathan Hsu are the Judge Memorial assistant tennis coaches. But last year and this year, we pretty much dominated the matches."

There was some frustration when the number 1 doubles team of Lizzie Loughridge and Gabby Paul didn’t advance, "but they were just put together a couple of weeks earlier and didn’t have a chance to really unite as a team," said Quinn. "That makes it difficult, especially in doubles going into the state tournament. A lot of times those teams play together two or three years and really know each other."

The team lost its number 2 doubles player from last year, "so this year we made some changes in trying to find out whose game jelled together," said Wilcox. "Doubles is always a tricky thing, trying to get personalities to jell together and get along on the court. Hopefully next year our doubles teams will be stronger."

Other reasons Wilcox is hopeful for next year is that the team will only lose Murnin, the number 2 singles player, and "I’ve also heard a rumor that we have a couple of good freshman coming in," she said.

"It gets contagious winning state. I’m lucky to have a great support system at Judge," said Wilcox. "It’s a great school with a great athletic director in Dan Quinn. He is a big advocate for tennis. It’s actually a privilege to be able to represent Judge."