Robertson girls breeze to title

Once an overlooked part of the high school tennis scene, the Las Vegas Robertson girls program is officially a dynasty.

The Lady Cardinals rolled to their fifth straight state title in Saturday’s final two rounds of the Tennis Team State Championship Tournament in Albuquerque. They finished their two-day run through the Class 1A-4A draw without losing a single dual match, sweeping past Portales 5-0 in the semifinals and then St. Michael’s by a similar count in the championship.

Robertson finished the season undefeated, winning every single duals match between early March and Saturday’s finals.

The Lady Cardinals won eight in-season tournament championships along the way, including every head-to-head matchup they had with St. Michael’s.

The tournament’s second seed, St. Michael’s, reached the finals by beating Sandia Prep and then Mesilla Valley, 5-1, in Saturday morning’s semifinals.

Things did not go so well for the Robertson boys, who lost 5-4 in dramatic fashion to top-seed New Mexico Military Institute in the finals. The Colts won their first title since winning three in a row in 2011-13. Robertson had taken two of the last three blue trophies, but were denied their first back-to-back titles in more than a decade.

Farmington won the 5A girls title, as expected. The Lady Scorpions dispatched perennial power Los Alamos by a 5-4 count in the semifinals, then swept past Albuquerque Academy, 5-0, in the championship.

The Los Alamos boys made it into the title match against Albuquerque Academy but lost, 5-0.

The Hilltoppers were seeded No. 3 but scored a mild upset in the semifinals earlier Saturday against No. 2 Farmington.

It was Academy’s 16th straight boys team championship, the longest sustained run of state titles by any team in any sport in state history.