Unbeaten again, Lambert takes title

Two very different outcomes -- one expected, the other a surprise -- highlighted the individual finals Friday at the girls' tennis state tournament.

In Class 2A, Minnetonka's Aria Lambert defeated Kelsey Frechette of Rochester Century 6-3, 6-3 to win her second consecutive singles title.

Lambert's victory capped her second undefeated season in a row. Her last loss was in the Class 2A final in 2007, when she lost to Tooli Wilkins of Burnsville in three sets.

Even then, however, it was obvious from the unruffled way that Lambert went about her business that championships were in her future.

"She has an internal strength that she can draw from," coach David Stearns said. "She just refuses to lose."

It wasn't always that way, Lambert said. When she was younger, she was like so many other junior tennis players, letting their emotions control them and showing them on the court.

But a casual comment at a tournament when she was 12 years old set Lambert on a course that has resulted in back-to-back state championships.

"I used to yell and slam my racquet down," Lambert said. "But then I was in a tournament where the person I was playing told me that when I'd get mad, she would get excited because she knew then that she could beat me. That stuck with me. I told myself that I will never again get mad on the court."

Watching Lambert, now a junior, play Friday, it would have been difficult for a casual observer to tell if she was winning or losing.

In both sets against Frechette, she took quick 4-1 leads before losing back-to-back games and letting her opponent gain confidence and creep closer.

Many players would have had a hard time regaining momentum, but Lambert responded on both occasions by breaking Frechette's serve, winning the next game and regaining control of the set.

"Just because she broke me, I still had to stay outwardly calm," Lambert said. "Inwardly I was also calm. I knew what I had to do."

Still, Lambert was impressed with the battle put up by Frechette, a sophomore.

"I didn't think the match would be as close as it was," Lambert said. "She had the right strategy. I just had to stay patient and keep trying to win each point."

The Class 2A doubles final featured a unique twist. Eden Prairie senior Makenna Borg lost to Lambert in the singles championship match in 2008.

Now, here was Borg, with teammate Maddie Buxton, playing for a doubles championship.

"We decided halfway through the season that we wanted to play doubles together," said Borg, who will play lacrosse at Ohio State next year.

Together, Borg and Buxton, a sophomore, swept through the tournament, winning all of their matches in straight sets. They defeated Mary Ellen Donovan and Jory Kircher of Century 6-1, 6-4 in the finals.

"It's my last tennis match ever, so winning the state tournament is the greatest feeling," Borg said.

The Class 1A singles champion was expected to come from a private school representing Section 4. And that part was correct.

But the winner turned out to be Providence Academy's Elena Sullivan, a sophomore who was the runner-up in Section 4 to Mounds Park Academy's Taylor Washington.

Washington was the No. 1-ranked player in 1A going into the tournament but lost in three sets to Rochester Lourdes' Courtney Rust in Friday's semifinals, opening the door for Sullivan to earn the title.

"I'm still kind of in shock," said Sullivan, who beat Rust 6-2, 6-4 in the finals. "I mean, when the tournament started, I thought I had a good chance to win, but there are a lot of good players here. This just feels amazing."

Amber Washington and Katie Roach of Mounds Park Academy won the doubles championship by beating Emily Alper and Sunny Tang of Breck 6-1, 6-3. It was a state-record fourth consecutive doubles championship for Washington, a sophomore who won her first title as a seventh-grader in 2006.