Karin Young woke up Friday a bundle of nerves. The Eastview sophomore has played oodles of high level tennis in her life, but this was different. A state championship was one the line.
But by the time Young and Edina's Nicole Copeland squared off for the Class 2A state title on Friday, those nerves were under control. And soon after, so was Copeland.
Young employed a defensive strategy that frustrated the two-time state champion. She also sprinkled in enough diversity to take advantage of opportunities when they arose to win her first state singles championship, besting Copeland 6-4, 6-1.
"I think I did a good job of relaxing and just forgetting about all the pressure," Young said.
It helped that she had defeated Copeland twice in recent weeks in section play, victories that earned her the tournament's No. 1 seed.
"I knew how good of a player she is and how close our matches can be," Young said. "I was just focused on playing my best game and blocking out all of the surroundings."
Her victory was a salve for two years of frustration for Young, whose father is University of Minnesota men's tennis coach Geoff Young. After finishing as runner-up in doubles as a seventh-grader in 2016, she was sidelined in 2017 by an injury that prompted her to play on the boys' team in the spring of 2018. Last fall she failed to qualify for the girls' state tournament after losing in the section semifinals.
"Last year was definitely upsetting, but I tried to use it to motivate me," she said. "I made the mistake of putting too much pressure on myself, so I learned from that. Winning this means a lot to me. It's one of my favorite tournaments."
