All Region: Doubles decision pays off for Skyview pair

It was left up to them.

For more on the All-Region girls tennis players of the year and the rest of the All-Region team, click here.

Skyview seniors Brittany Ellingsen and Anna Romanovsky teamed up for doubles competition this girls tennis season and then had a decision to make a couple of weeks before the district tournament.

Stick together, or go their separate ways and play as singles?

Ellingsen and Romanovsky stayed together.

They stayed together to win district. They stayed together when they finished fifth at bi-district to accomplish their goal of making it to state. Then they were there for each other when they won the first three matches at state. And, most importantly, they were together to rally from a 5-1 deficit in the third set to win the Class 4A state doubles championship.

“I don’t think there would have been any regrets, win or lose,” Ellingsen said.

“Winning was nice, though,” Romanovsky added.

“Yeah, that made it better,” Ellingsen said, failing miserably in an effort to hide a smile.

For their state championship, Brittany Ellingsen and Anna Romanovsky are The Columbian’s All-Region girls tennis players of the year.

Ellingsen-Romanovsky defeated Kentwood’s Tess Manthou and Eliana Spero 6-2, 6-7, 7-6. They had to fight off two match points when trailing 5-1 in the third set, before they could even try to go on a run to force another tiebreaker.

“It was such a weird rush of emotion,” Romanovsky said.

“She contained her emotions. I didn’t,” Ellingsen added. “I thought about breaking my racket a couple times.”

They persevered, then they won.

“I just remember falling to the court,” Romanovsky said.

“Then I tackled you,” Ellingsen said.

The two of them were then surprised by another pack. Their teammates rushed the court and jumped on them, adding to the celebration.

That was a far cry from when Ellingsen started the season slowly after suffering a neck sprain in a car crash.

Then when the two started playing together, they both heard naysayers telling them they could not combine their awesome singles talent into one quality doubles team.

Heck, they weren’t even sure about themselves at first.

“We were hoping to make it to state,” Romanovsky said.

“We weren’t hoping to place at state,” Ellingsen added. “Just go.”

They did more than that. Together, they became the first tennis players from the Skyview program to win a state championship.

It was left up to them, and they left as champions.