Two Box Elder High School tennis players are all that remain standing after the North Divisional Tennis Tournament in Ogden last week.

Kristie Jensen and Michelle Braithwaite entered the divisional tournament with first-round byes after claiming individual championships at the region tournament two weeks ago, and both overcame some adversity in their tournament-openers in the second round to ensure a spot in the state tournament. Jensen will take third-place seed to the state tournament, Braithwaite enters as a fourth-place seed.

The first round of the divisional tournament was a play-in, so losses at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles and No. 3 singles, ended the season for those players.

Jensen finished in third place, but faced some harrowing moments in her first match to avoid an early entrance to the consolation bracket.

After losing the first game to Ellie Ott from Olympus, Jensen got in a groove and even broke serve to take a 3-2 lead. On serve in the next game, Jensen fought back from 15-40 to avoid giving up a break of her own.

But a hamstring injury continued to hamper her ability to move, and she found herself down, 4-5, as every rally forced a pain-filled grimace, which even brought her to tears at one point.

She stayed on serve despite the injury, and took a 5-5 tie into an injury timeout, which seemed to work. She came back from the time out to break serve and win the set 7-5.

“I had to fight harder,” Jensen said about the injury.

The second set was much different as Jensen finessed her way to a 6-0 win.

“I was just trying to throw in more slices,” Jensen said. Her father (and assistant coach), Ron Jensen, said he advised her to also hit some deeper shots. He said the movement of the ball and forcing the ball closer to the baseline was more than Jensen’s opponent could handle.

“You got meaner when you got hurt,” an Olympus coach said to Jensen after the match.

But the injury flared again on Saturday, only this time it was bad enough to force Jensen to forfeit the match at 3-0.

“The forfeit was a huge disappointment,” said coach Carlos Martinez in a press release, “but it allowed her to rest and ice the injury for several hours, prior to her match in the consolation bracket.”

But even then, the injury proved troublesome.

In the consolation match, Jensen split sets with Sky View’s Hannah Philips, 7-5, 1-6, and during a break between the second and third sets, Jensen again considered retiring from the match, but a quick treatment allowed her to go on.

Martinez said the treatment and Jensen’s “gritty play” earned her the 6-2 win. Jensen has faced Philips three times in the last two weeks, all with the same result. Jensen beat Philips, 6-0, 6-1, in a regular-season match just days before facing her in the Region 5 championship, where Jensen beat her, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

For Braithwaite, the friendly crowd helped her stave off defeat in the third set when she faced a triple-match-point and a near certain future in the consolation bracket.

“It was everyone cheering for me,” said Braithwaite about her 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 win over her Logan opponent.

But a little positive internal dialogue didn’t hurt, either.

“And I kept telling myself I could do it,” she said.

Down 5-3 and facing that triple-match point, Braithwaite said she took the match a point at a time as she used a brutal combination of lob shots that dropped in just short of the baseline, and drop shots that fell just over the net, to keep herself alive and win the next four sets to take the match.

On the second day, however, Braithwaite’s opponent, Kate Crowley from Woods Cross, gave few opportunities as Braithwaite fell, 6-2, 6-1. After losing the first set in the consolation bracket, 1-6, Braithwaite made an effort at a rally that came up short, 7-5.

Slow starts proved to be the demise for No. 1 doubles and No. 3 singles, while hard, consistent first serves from a Woods Cross duo sent the Bees’ No. 2 doubles team home for the season.

At No. 3 singles, Jenna McRory was broken twice early and lost the first set, 6-0, before using three aces to win her first game at 4-0.

“I wasn’t serving very good in the first set,” she said. “I wasn’t as consistent.”

After getting things working, McRory’s monster serve won her another set, but the 5-2 deficit was too much to overcome.

Bountiful proved it is the team to beat from the northern division, winning all three singles and No. 1 doubles titles.

This is the first year the North Divisional Tournament has been held. In previous years, seedings to the state tournament were determined by finishes at region events. According to information from the Utah High School Activities Association, the divisional tournaments were established as a way to equitably “solve the issues of state tennis qualifiers and pairings for the five 4A regions.” The 13 schools from Regions 5 and 6 were at the tournament.

Jensen and Braithwaite will compete in the 4A state tournament on Friday and Saturday at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City.