SALT LAKE CITY — Jane Dunyon is in ninth grade and already rated as a five-star tennis recruit by tennisrecruiting.net, the sport’s major recruiting service.

She plays a lot of high-level tournaments and often travels out of state for coaching and competition. Dunyon almost didn’t play tennis at Weber High this season.

“I wasn’t going to play high school, so I actually decided to play the day before (tryouts). I actually wasn’t too high on the idea, I didn’t really want to but my parents said it was a good experience … and I did, and now I’m really happy I did,” she said.

Dunyon beat Layton fellow freshman Tia Christopulos in straight sets at Saturday’s 6A state tennis tournament to win the No. 1 singles state championship.

Dunyon ensured the 6A No. 1 singles crown not only stays with Weber High for another year, but also in the Dunyon family after her older sister Jacque, now playing for BYU, won three straight from 2018-20 and was in attendance Saturday.

“I didn’t know she was coming because she’s at college now so it was a big surprise to see her come this morning,” Jane Dunyon said. “It was awesome, she gave me a huge hug, she’s probably my favorite person in the world. I was really lucky to share it with her.”

One thing that probably didn’t help Christopulos was that she played a tough, three-set semifinal (a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win against Farmington’s Shannon Anderson) before facing Dunyon in the final. Dunyon was on and off the court for her semifinal in less than an hour, beating Skyridge’s Lucy Droubay 6-1, 6-1.

Jane Dunyon hits a slice backhand during the 6A girls tennis state tournament at Liberty Park on Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021.

At the Region 1 tournament a couple weeks ago, Dunyon beat Christopulos 6-2, 6-4 to win the No. 1 singles title there.

Saturday, Dunyon won 6-1, 6-0.

“She loves when people hit low and flat to her, so I knew I needed to hit high and heavy,” Dunyon said about her change in strategy against Christopulos.

It’s a lesson in tennis strategy as well as physics why Dunyon, a hard-hitting left-hander, chose to hit loopy, “heavy” shots instead of “flat” groundstrokes.

The more topspin that’s put on the ball, the higher above the net a player can hit and the more likely the ball will land in the court and not fly to the fence — thanks in part to an air-pressure principle called the Magnus Effect.

The other effect of hitting with a lot of topspin is the ball is hit higher and it bounces higher, meaning if players want to stay at the baseline and deal with loopy shots, they have to hit them similar to a baseball player fielding a ground ball on a short hop.

If they don’t adopt that strategy, they have to back up farther and farther behind the baseline, which puts them in a defensive position and allows the player hitting the aforementioned topspin shots to dictate the points.

Leading 4-0 in the second set, Dunyon took her play up another level.

She and Christopulos had a long, hard-hitting groundstroke rally going before Dunyon got the look she wanted and pelted a flat forehand winner down the line to go ahead 5-0. Dunyon won the match the next game and had only a smile on her face for about the next hour.

Many freshmen have won state championships at first singles over the years in all classifications, but Dunyon’s now in a position to win four state championships if she continues to play prep tennis.

There have been at least eight girls tennis players — the UHSAA record book is incomplete in this category — to win four state singles championships in Utah.

LAYTON TAKES 2ND IN CLOSE TEAM RACE

The margins were slim in this year’s team championship race. Skyridge beat Layton 20-16 as the Falcons won championships at both No. 1 and No. 2 doubles to give them the decisive four points.

Second place is the highest state tournament finish in Layton High school history.

The Lancers had semifinalists in four of the five brackets while the Falcons had semifinalists in all five brackets. Layton had one state champion, Skyridge had two.

“They’re disappointed because it was within our reach, for sure,” coach Carlene Kemp said. “Last year we just had one, our No. 2 singles, go for the championship. We had a good showing this year, it was that No. 1 doubles that was our pendulum swing.”

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner Layton’s Tana Christopulos hits a backhand during the 6A girls tennis state tournament Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021 at Liberty Park.

Layton and Skyridge were tied at 16 points apiece with the two doubles matches still on court. The Skyridge duo of Savannah Johnson and Kylee Sperry won 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1 doubles to officially wrap up the team title.

The No. 1 doubles semifinal, the one Kemp mentioned, may have been the true final, Kemp said. Johnson and Sperry had to gut out a three-set win — 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 — over Layton’s top doubles team of Tess Christopulos and Victoria Cooksey.

Trailing 5-4 in the third set, the Layton duo broke serve to even the set at 5-all. Skyridge broke serve right back and then held serve to win a tense match that ultimately paved the way for the team championship.

Layton took home first place with freshman Tana Christopulos beating Skyridge’s Payton Carroll 6-1, 6-3 in the No. 3 singles championship. Christopulos didn’t lose a set the entire tournament.

At No. 2 singles, senior Juliana Cooksey’s run ended in the finals against Riya Soneji from West High in a 6-1, 6-2 loss. Cooksey didn’t drop a set in her previous three state tournament matches.

BEAR RIVER SENIOR FALLS IN FINAL

Saturday was the last day of the 4A girls tennis state tournament, where Bear River senior Erika Olsen faced region rival Bailey Huebner from Green Canyon in the No. 1 singles championship.

Olsen won the first set 6-3, lost the second set 6-2 and then both players engaged in a long, tense third set that Huebner eventually won 6-4 that helped her team win the 4A team state championship.