The Corley family has a fourth state tennis champion; pals Dils, Rocca also win state

May 9—Ivana was there. Carmen was there. Twin sister Vianca, too.

The Corley sisters were all together Thursday afternoon to watch as the family added yet another girls state singles tennis title to an already crammed trophy case.

None of their triumphs were as dramatic as this one, however, the seventh for the siblings.

Vivica Corley was down 1-4 in the third set to Cameron King of La Cueva, but the Eldorado junior rallied and, after a compelling 3 hours and 25 minutes against an ailing but valiant King at the Jerry Cline Courts, Corley pulled out an epic 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (5) victory in the girls Class 5A championship match.

"I'm really happy. I'm proud of myself," Corley said. "I put in a lot of work to get to this spot."

Longtime friends Connor Dils of Albuquerque Academy (1A-4A) and Leo Rocca of Albuquerque High (5A) dominated their state championship matches Thursday. Those two and Vivica Corley were joined by Avery Williams of Goddard, the 1A-4A girls champion.

Long after Rocca, Williams and Dils had finished their work on court, Corley and King remained, and the top two seeds battled ferociously hard.

No. 1 seed Corley won the opening set 7-5, the second-seeded King rallied to win the second set 6-2.

Leading 4-1 in the third set, King began to develop leg cramps, and took a medical timeout to get treatment. King, clearly in pain, was frequently in tears between points over the final few games, and walked with a noticeable limp.

Corley won two straight games for 4-3, but King showed much grit to rebound for a 5-3 lead. But she couldn't close it out, and eventually the two went to a tiebreaker.

King, herself a two-time state champion in 2021 and 2022, was up 4-2 in the breaker; Corley won the next four points, and won the match moments later on a double fault.

It is the seventh championship for the Corley sisters. Ivana won three singles titles for the Eagles. Carmen won a pair. Vianca, who won a doubles championship Thursday for Eldorado, was the 5A singles champion last year.

"I really appreciate all the support my family gave me," Vivica said. "It feels really good to win the title, especially since I haven't won one yet. So I'm proud of myself."

Ivana and Carmen are home for a while; the two have been playing doubles professionally in Europe after finishing their college careers at Oklahoma a year ago.

"It was really cool to have them (here)," Vivica said. "I enjoyed that a lot."

Rocca and Dils have been rivals — and good friends — since they were young boys, and often travel together for tournaments in the prep offseason.

Each needed less than an hour to win state on Thursday.

The top-seeded Rocca — tied for third three years ago, third two years ago, runner-up last year — blitzed No. 2 Jaime Moran of La Cueva, 6-0, 6-0. Dils, the top seed in 1A-4A, swarmed No. 2 Ryan Sood of Los Alamos, 6-1, 6-0.

Dils, who'll next be playing for the University of New Mexico, closed out an undefeated season. That includes a win over Rocca at the metros.

"Couldn't have asked for it to be any better," said Dils, who lost only one game in eight sets in his four matches Wednesday and Thursday. "(I) was playing well throughout the season. It got better and better, and ended up here, so I'm very happy."

Rocca, a tall, hard-hitting senior southpaw, overpowered Moran from the start in his victory. Like Dils, Rocca was equally untouchable, dropping just three games in four wins.

"Every year, I've been improving ... so to improve in that way is just great," Rocca said. "Finally this year, I did it."

He said he'd been thinking long about this conclusion.

"It was in the back of my mind the whole year," Rocca said. His younger brother, Mitchell, a freshman, placed third at state. "I always wanted a state title to get my name in history here in New Mexico."

Williams' defense was on display in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over No. 1 seed Mariela Rigales of St. Michael's. The second-seeded Williams also had a long, three-set win in the semifinals earlier in the day Thursday.

DOUBLES: Vianca Corley teamed with Addison Arndt (the 1 seed) to beat No. 3-seeded Kendall King and Alexis Spindler of La Cueva, 6-2, 6-1, and dominated all four matches in this tournament. The Santa Fe High third-seeded tandem of Carlos Flores and Humza Mahmood won boys 5A, defeating the No. 1 team of Tyler Kim and Thaaj Bhardwaj from La Cueva, 6-4, 6-3.

In girls 1A-4A, Emeline Doscher and Angela Norrod, the No. 2 seed from Academy, beat unseeded Amanda Santistevan and Lindsey Williams of Deming, 6-2, 6-3. Adrian Hanna and Austin Curtis of Academy, the 2 seed, won the boys title, 6-4, 6-4 over Henry Kaufman and Jackson Friedland, the top-seeded team from Santa Fe Prep.

The two-day team competition begins Friday.