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topicnews · October 25, 2024

The Class 1A Minnesota girls high school tennis championship was contested between players Chloe Alley and Fatemeh Vang

The Class 1A Minnesota girls high school tennis championship was contested between players Chloe Alley and Fatemeh Vang

Minnehaha Academy girls tennis coach Jose Williamson described 15-year-old sophomore Chloe Alley as “one of the most intellectual players” and someone who was “really stoic” on the court.

But Alley had a hunch. She smiled at her friends sitting courtside at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis on Friday.

“When I saw her, I thought, ‘Oh my God, my friends showed up,'” Alley said. “A nice surprise.”

Alley’s friends witnessed the top-seeded sophomore’s 6-0, 6-3 victory over No. 2 seed Blake sophomore Fatemeh Vang to clinch the Class 1A girls’ singles state championship. The match was somewhat of a rematch of a state tournament from last year, when Vang and her older sister Nana Vang defeated Alley and Greta Johnson for the 1A doubles title.

In Friday’s title game, Alley defeated Vang for the third time this season, beating them in conference play, the Section 4 final (6-2, 6-4) and now the state final. Alley used her shot selection and powerful groundstrokes to take control of the championship match early, making it to the first set while giving up just eight points to Vang in the first six games.

“All the shots I wanted to hit almost all went exactly where I wanted them,” Alley said. “I played pretty well and played exactly how I wanted to play.”

But Alley’s unforced error count increased in the second set. Vang broke Alley’s serve twice to get to 3-4 in the second set before Alley closed out the set with a break and a hold at love, ending with a clean winner on match point.

Chloe Alley poses after winning the Class 1A girls singles tennis title at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis on Friday. (Heather Rule/For the Minnesota Star Tribune)

Both players said they had the nerve to start the match and Vang praised her opponent for keeping her cool. She also noted how much Alley had improved over the past year.