• McKenna

  • Wiens



PUEBLO — Adversity is inevitable. You hope it happens sooner rather than later, but sometimes it’s out of your control.

Thompson Valley’s No. 1 doubles team of seniors Amber Wiens and Alex McKenna had some adversity come their way at the worst possible time during the 4A state tournament Monday. Trailing Conifer 2-3 in the first set, an overhand shot struck Wiens in the face and caused a bloody nose, giving her just 15 minutes allowed for a “bleeding timeout” to stop the bleeding before the match would be called early.

“We felt like we had a pretty good shot against them. We were down 2-3 in first set and Amber took overhand right in the face and it shook her up pretty bad,” TVHS coach Jim Frazier said. “They resumed play, but Amber was not quite herself. Poor girl; she was playing with cotton balls stuck up each nostril and was playing the best she could. They took (Conifer) to a tiebreaker in the second set, which was very brave of her.”

The Eagles would lose the first set 6-2 after the injury, yet recovered to push the second to the limit before eventually dropping a close set, 7-6, meaning Wiens and McKenna would have to wait for the result of Conifer and Cheyenne Mountain to see if their tournament was indeed over. One of the top duos in the state, Cheyenne Mountain cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 victory, ending McKenna and Wiens’ state trip early.

“I know it wasn’t the kind of memories they were hoping for, but they really did have a great spirit through it all,” Frazier said. “It wasn’t as though they took that moment as a negative. That second set they were focused, smiling and looked like they were enjoying it. You could tell from the way they were battling back, if things went better that first set, it could have easily gone the other way.”