BENTONVILLE -- The difference between Bentonville West's girls winning the outright Class 6A state tennis team title and sharing a championship rested on Cassie Cervantes' shoulders Tuesday afternoon.
The junior didn't disappoint herself or her teammates as she captured the singles championship with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Rogers Heritage's Stella de Vera and allowed the Lady Wolverines to win their second state title in three years.
Cervantes' victory gave Bentonville West the three points needed to edge Rogers by an 11-8 margin for the team championship. Little Rock Central was next with five points, while De Vera's performance allowed Rogers Heritage to tie Bentonville for fourth place with four points apiece.
"It was a lot of pressure, but I tried not to focus on that," Cervantes said. "My coach always tells me to play the ball and not the person you're playing. My nerves were calmed down, so it was good."
Both players had to win semifinal matches earlier Tuesday to reach the championship game. Cervantes enjoyed a straight-set victory over Glennah Langford of Bentonville and was done well ahead of de Vera, who was pushed to the full three sets by Cate Cote of Fort Smith Southside before she claimed a 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 victory.
So Cervantes' strategy in the final was a simple one -- go after a tired de Vera from the start and wear her out even more.
"I know when I play three-set matches, I am always a lot more tired," Cervantes said. "So I did try to take it and use it to my advantage. I wanted to make her run more. I know it sounds mean, but that's a strategy. I wanted to make her go from side to side.
"I think I went into the match with a really good mentality. I just tried to think positive throughout the whole match and don't let my emotions control everything. The only things you can control are your attitude and your thinking."
Meanwhile, it was a similar mindset that allowed JK Bohnert and Grace Lueders to win the doubles title for the third straight year. The Rogers duo took a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Little Rock Central's Khushi Patil and Caroline Lasley in the championship match.
Bohnert and Lueders advanced to the final with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Paige Weston and Eva Lopez of Bentonville West and enjoyed some additional rest between matches. Patil and Lasley, meanwhile, had to battle another Bentonville West team -- Darby Allison and Liz Files -- through three sets before taking a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 victory.
"The net player was always trying to attack because they were very good at rallying," Bohnert said. "So our baseline player was just trying to keep the ball in play before the net player could put things away.
"We just wanted to go out there and play our game. We really didn't want to change anything -- just play our game."
The Lady Mounties' duo said the biggest difference between this year's state championship and the other two they had won was the fact that this one would be the last one. Both players are seniors this year.
"It's like we've waited our whole high school experience to graduate," Lueders said. "And now it's like it's all over. It just hadn't sunk in just yet. It really hasn't."
Langford came back to win the third-place singles match with a 6-2, 6-1 decision over Cole. It was an all-Bentonville West battle in the third-place doubles match, with Allison and Files earning a 6-2, 6-3 win over Weston and Lopez.