David Adams doesn’t take any of Cheyenne Mountain’s success for granted.

Even after nearly two decades coaching the Red-Tailed Hawks’ girls’ tennis team and a wealth of success, Adams loves seeing his athletes’ grit-and-grind mentality pay off at the end of a season.

Nine consecutive team titles from 2009-2017, four since the Red-Tailed Hawks’ aforementioned run, a nail-biter in 2025 to beat top-seeded Kent Denver, it’s all thrilling to Adams.

Each title represents a different obstacle players have had to overcome and, after adding a 26^th girls tennis banner to their gym in 2025, Adams said they’re hungry for a 27^th.

That remains possible after Cheyenne Mountain, 4A’s No. 1 seed, defeated No. 16 Rampart 6-1 at home Wednesday in the opening round of the team state tennis tournament.

“We want to do it. We want to repeat,” Adams said. “We have a great rivalry with Kent (Denver) and we’re all competitive people and we want to win. And there’s that expectation. Everyone thinks it’s just going to happen if they put the uniform on – not the players, everyone else – they shrug their shoulders and expect magic.”

Players made certain not to disappoint themselves or suffer an upset as no position on the Red-Tailed Hawks’ team has more than four losses. Cheyenne Mountain’s No. 3 doubles team of Ayva Bonicelli and Ruth Ringer, who are freshmen, finished the regular season 11-4.

The Red-Tailed Hawks’ singles players are led by three seniors who amassed a 37-8 combined record with majority of those losses coming to 5A opponents.

“You never want to play your current year worse than your previous year,” Red-Tailed Hawks’ No. 2 singles player Alyssa Sadri said. “I had a big upset last year, so that meant I didn’t want to disappoint anyone this year.”

Sadri, who competed at No. 1 singles in 2025, defeated Kent Denver’s Lila Moldenhauer in the state team tournament finals. The week prior, Moldenhauer defeated Sadri at the individual state tennis tournament to earn her third consecutive title.

But Sadri’s victory helped the Red-Tailed Hawks earn the team trophy. Now, Sadri said Cheyenne Mountain wears a target and they hope to dodge any potential upsets.

“There are always nerves because if you lose, it’s the end of the season,” Sadri said. “Earlier in the season, if you lost, there was another game. It’s different now.”

Teammate Rose Katen echoed those sentiments. Katen, who is at No. 1 singles this year for the Red-Tailed Hawks, was the final match that lasted nearly two hours.

Katen earned a 6-2, 6-3 victory against Rampart’s Alexandra Ross and the Red-Tailed Hawks senior displayed that determination Adams loves to see. Katen said a back injury plagued her most of the afternoon.

“I’m not sure what it is because it’s never happened before,” Katen said. “The first set I felt fine and my back was just a little tight. In the second set, every time I tried to rotate my back, it would start to hurt. It got significantly worse and by the end, it was a shooting pain.”

The Red-Tailed Hawks will face No. 9 Windsor at home in the quarterfinals Friday and, along with Katen’s back pain, have another challenge. Cheyenne Mountain is without No. 3 singles Sophie Zhou, who was out of town Wednesday and will remain unavailable for the second round.

“We don’t want to have to default two matches,” Katen said. “It’s more pressure knowing we won state last year and knowing we’re the first seed this year. Based on rankings, technically, we’re supposed to win. But the other teams are good too.

“A large focus for us this year is not going into a match thinking we’re going to win, even if we know the team we’re playing. It can change any year and every match is different. Last year we weren’t expected to win but (Alyssa) pulled through. You have to go into every match knowing nothing that happened in the past will determine what happens in the future. You have to go out and earn it.”

Opening-round results

5A

No. 2 Cherry Creek 7, No. 15 Pine Creek 0

4A

No. 1 Cheyenne Mountain 6, No. 16 Rampart 1

No. 9 Windsor 6, No. 8 Palmer Ridge 1

No. 4 Air Academy 6, No. 13 Longmont 1

No. 2 Discovery Canyon 6, No. 15 Discovery Canyon 1

No. 7 Durango 6, No. 10 Cañon City 1