Faith Lutheran tops Galena to reach semifinals

Faith Lutheran girls tennis coach Jeff Foley took his players out for Olive Garden after their 10-8 Class 4A state quarterfinal victory over Galena on Wednesday night.

Proper fuel for the semifinals.

The Crusaders swept the doubles sets in the first two rounds and led 9-3 before clinching the 10th point and summoning their reserves for most of the third round. Kennedy Barr and Arianna Van Houweling were 3-0 doubles, and the combination of Kenadee Semenik and Jade Mayweather was 2-0.

Mountain Region singles champion Mira Filiberti also was 2-0.

“Good for us to get up here and get a match under our belt, and get acclimated to the altitude,” Foley said. “We started putting in some of other players. They made the trip up here to state, and we wanted them to get some experience.”

Ally Cohen was 3-0 singles for Galena (12-3) and teammate Amy Eftimoff went 2-1.

The Crusaders (21-3) will take on defending state champion Coronado at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday for a berth in the Class 4A championship.

“We’ve got to get geared up for that,” Foley said.

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.