Slaughter Roofing Cancer Tournament allows new bonds to build and established bonds to strengthen for Sarah … – Greeley Tribune

The Slaughter Roofing Cancer Tennis Tournament has an uncanny knack for bringing people together strangers, long-time acquaintances, family, friends.

For Sarah Abeyta, the tournament and the sport in general has nudged her even closer to someone she is already close with, her boyfriend and doubles partner, Adam Less.

It also brought her face to face with a fellow former Eaton High School athletics standout whom she had heard plenty about but had never actually met before Friday: Kendra Cunningham.

On one side of the net during the Mixed 8.0 Doubles semifinals match at Centennial Courts: Abeyta and Less. On the other side: Cunningham and Jon Haruguchi volleyball aficionados by trait, building their tennis skills in recent months.

More experienced and seasoned on the tennis court, Less and Abeyta topped Haruguchi and Cunningham, 6-1, 6-2, to punch their ticket to today's finals, facing Cindy and Rick Wehmeyer at 10 a.m.

"I'm excited," said Less, a Davenport, Iowa native, who now coaches boys tennis at Poudre High School. "We always like to win. Yeah, we like to have fun, but we like to win, as well."

Abeyta added, "The best part about it is it gives us another opportunity to play together and have fun."

Cunningham, 23, is a 2012 Eaton graduate and volleyball standout, who went on to star for the University of Northern Colorado. She was hired as the Bears' Director of Volleyball Operations after graduating from UNC in 2016.

She works alongside Haruguchi, 43, who was hired a month and a half before Cunningham as an assistant under head coach Lyndsey Oates.

Abeyta, 32, is a 2003 graduate of Eaton where she was a state tennis tournament runner-up. After high school, she took 10 years off of tennis before getting back into the sport a few years ago, at the urging of her younger sister, Caryl Abeyta.

Less, 38, has been playing for only about 2 1/2 years, but he has tennis in his family.

His sisters introduced him to the sport, and he's latched on to it.

One of his five sisters played with Caryl.

Adam and Sarah met as a result of their sisters' tennis connection.

They've been dating for about a year and have been tennis partners for the past several months.

Sarah and Adam suspect their siblings weren't just trying to play match-maker strictly within the confines of tennis when they brought the couple together on the court.

"Both of our siblings were playing match-maker with us, I think," Sarah said.

Caryl got Sarah back into tennis and ultimately connected her with Less.

"My sister Caryl encouraged me; she said, 'It's a great way to meet new people. It's a great activity. It's a great way to meet a new boyfriend,' " Sarah said with a chuckle, while looking up at Less.

As much as Abeyta was enjoying time on the court with Less on Friday, she was just as grateful to finally meet Cunningham, an unrelenting volleyball competitor Caryl had told Sarah so much about.

Caryl graduated from Eaton just before Cunningham began her career with the Reds.

While volleyball is clearly her specialty, Cunningham also played tennis her first two years of high school.

She hadn't really picked up a tennis racket until recently, as the volleyball staff had begun having "Tennis Tuesdays" this past fall.

Oates and her staff would swing rackets out on the UNC tennis courts after wrapping up their work indoors on the volleyball courts.

Oates, an avid tennis player and past competitor at the Cancer Tennis Tournament, recommended Cunningham and Haruguchi sign up for this week's tournament.

The duo figured, "why not?".

"Every time we talked on the phone (with tournament organizers), it just felt like this was a really nice tournament they were putting on," Haruguchi said. "There was no stress involved."

Well, no stress, for the most part.

Having not played tennis in an organized, competitive setting in seven years, Cunningham admitted to being a little anxious as she prepared to step on the court Friday.

Any butterflies she may have had quickly went away. She and Abeyta connected the dots of their respective Eaton athletic histories, then proceeded to engage in a match that featured just as much laughing and back-and-forth banter as it did back-and-forth rallies.

"I was nervous," she said. "Tennis is a polite sport. But, just to have competitors who can laugh with you or give you pointers was awesome."

In between games, Less chowed down on some barbecue, while all four competitors stayed hydrated with their drinks of choice.

When Haruguchi put a little too much torque on a swing that ended up costing his team a point, Abeyta deadpanned, "That would have been a good volleyball spike."

After Cunningham acknowledged the cordial nature of the match, saying, "I love that you're cheering for us, even though you're our competition."

Abeyta responded, "We want to encourage you to play more tennis."

Abeyta's partner spoke for himself, hollering across the net, light-heartedly, "I want to kick your butt."

Nonetheless, Friday's match might have been the least bothered the uber-competitive Cunningham has ever been after a loss.

"Our goal was to not get shut out," Cunningham said with a laugh. "We won three games. So, we're improving. And, honestly, I was pleasantly surprised with how we played. So, I think we'll have to practice a little bit more, and we'll find some more tournaments."

Meanwhile, Abeyta and Less were enjoying the type of Friday that many couples do during a cool summer night: Friends, family, a little bit of barbecue, some ice cold drinks and a chance to grow just a little bit closer in front of a warmhearted, charitable background.

"It doesn't matter if you've been playing tennis for five days or 10 years, you can come out here, have fun, make new friends and support a good cause," Abeyta said of the tournament. "We really want this tournament to keep going, and it would be amazing if it built momentum for next year."

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Slaughter Roofing Cancer Tournament allows new bonds to build and established bonds to strengthen for Sarah ... - Greeley Tribune