Minnetonka sweeps Class AA Girls’ State Tennis Tournaments

Minnetonka junior Sarah Shahbaz capped a dominant season, individually and collectively, by capturing the Class AA singles championship with a 7-6 (7-2), 6-0 victory over top-seeded Zoe Adkins, a senior at Maple Grove, on Friday at the Baseline Tennis Center on the University of Minnesota campus.

Shahbaz, seeded No. 2, completed the season 27-0 and it paired with Minnetonka winning the Class AA team title two days earlier. Two years ago, Shahbaz paired with Annika Elvestrom to win the Class AA doubles championship. The state tournament wasn’t held in 2020 because of a global pandemic.

Shahbaz is Minnetonka’s first girls state champion since 2016 when Isabella Lambert won the Class AA crown. She is Minnetonka’s fourth-ever girls state champion since the activity was sanctioned in 1974.

Teammate Kelsey Phillips, a junior, won the third-place medal with a default victory over Roseville Area senior Nikki Ridenour.

In the doubles competition, Minnetonka’s Annika Elvestrom, a senior, and Karina Elvestrom, a sophomore, won the state championship with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Rochester Century’s Julia Baber, a senior, and junior Paige Sargent. Mounds View’s Molly Austin, a senior, and junior Katerina Smiricinschi topped Minnetonka juniors Maddie Prondzinski and Emiljia Medzuikaite for the third-place medal.