The best part of high school sports is unpredictability. These are teenagers, and as any parent would agree, just when you think you’ve figured them out, they throw you a curve.

Before Friday’s Class 3A singles final between Rochester Mayo juniors Aoife (pronounced EE-fuh) Loftus and Malea Diehn, common wisdom was that Diehn might enjoy a slight advantage. After all, Diehn, the No. 2 seed in the field, had cruised through her semifinal match, winning comfortably.

Loftus, seeded fourth in the bracket, needed to battle through three tough sets to beat No. 1-seeded Cassandra Li in a three-hour match.

Only one Mayo player could claim the state championship. As it turned out, that player was Loftus.

Playing nearly flawless tennis, Loftus defeated Diehn 6-1, 6-3 to win her first singles state championship.

Friday marked the third consecutive title for the Loftus sisters. Claire Loftus won the two previous 3A singles titles before graduating last spring.

“Yeah, we’ve got another state champion in the family, I guess,” Aoife said, laughing.

Time spent on the court leading up to the high school season was a big factor in Loftus’ victory, Mayo head coach Jeff Demaray said.

“She played 135 USTA matches, singles and doubles, from [the first of] January to the start of the high school season,” he said. “She puts in the work.”

Loftus nodded in agreement when informed of her coach’s words.

“I think that’s an important part of tennis,” she said. “I don’t think I would’ve played anywhere near how I did if I hadn’t played all those matches. They prepared me super well.”

Loftus won the first set handily, 6-1. Diehn tried to rally in the second set, winning the first two games and taking a 3-1 lead, but Loftus won the final five games for the victory.

“She was really consistent. She wasn’t making very many errors,” Diehn said, admitting Loftus didn’t show any visible wear from her long morning semifinal “She was ready to go. She’s a fighter.”

Demaray said he’s looking forward to having both players return for their senior seasons to lead the three-time state team champion Spartans. There’s a goal in mind.

“We want to get to 100,” he said. “We’ve won 76 [team matches] in a row now. We’re shooting for 100.”

Edina’s Raya Hou and Lauryn Schenck won the 3A doubles title, beating defending champions Rory and Reece Wahlstrand of Mounds View 6-1, 6-0.

JIM PAULSEN

Class 2A: Elizabeth Payne upsets top seed

Holy Angels junior Elizabeth Payne had a lot of “internal conflict” during her Class 2A singles state championship match. She was trailing 4-1 in the third set and twice saw her opponent two points from the title.

“I had a couple of times where I said, ‘It was a good fight,’ ” Payne said. “ ’It’s fine. You can try it again next year.’

“Then I was like, ‘No, you cannot do that. The match isn’t over. Points can turn at any second.’ ”

That second voice — she described it as angel vs. devil, and the “angel just really took over” — won out. So did Payne.

The No. 2 seed forced a tiebreaker to upset top seed Sam Williams, a sophomore at Mankato East, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2) for the title at Life Time South in Bloomington.

Payne played solid defense, sending whatever groundstroke or lob Williams tossed her way back over the net. It ended with a state title in her tournament debut.

“I have always had this moment in the back of my head,” Payne said. “I didn’t ever think it would happen.”

Joyful sobs poured out of Payne after the match, especially as she embraced her teammates and family.

“Now they’re going to pour out of me,” said Holy Angels coach Steve Werle, getting choked up as he spoke. “Like a lot of young tennis players, she has struggled with controlling her emotions. … She’s come a long way in conquering some of the demons that she’s had in competitive play.”

Payne jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the tiebreaker to keep pressure on Williams.

“I wanted to be aggressive, because I felt that was working for me in the match,” Williams said. “I just couldn’t do it at the right time.”

The doubles championship match also went the distance between a pair of unseeded teams. Sedona Stumpf and Brooke Gabel of Hill-Murray dropped the first set before winning 12 of the next 13 games for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over Josie Brown and Katie Jung of Holy Angels.

HEATHER RULE

Class 1A: Chloe Alley repeats

Chloe Alley of Minnehaha Academy won her second consecutive singles state title, defeating No. 2 seed Leah Maddock of Osakis 6-2, 6-1 in the championship match at Reed Sweatt Tennis Center.

Maddock did not make it easy for Alley. She pushed her for every point and every game.

“She hit some winners, some really good shots,” Alley said. “… She was really able to hammer it, hit it hard, which made it a little more difficult for me.”

Alley was able to return some shots that seemed perfectly placed.

“I try to get to everything, even if I don’t hit it over the net,” she said. “You never know, sometimes you get there.”

Alley, a junior, also won the doubles state title as an eighth-grader in 2022, teaming with Greta Johnson.

Breck’s tandem of Abbey Perry and Addie Berman won the doubles title, defeating Litchfield’s Isla Dille and Molly Patten 7-5, 6-1.

Perry and Berman dropped the first game of the match but won the next two and never trailed again. The sides traded points most of the first set, but the Breck duo took control of the match in the second set.

JOE GUNTHER