It had been 10 years since any Inglemoor High Viking had won a state 4A tennis championship. But the dominant pair of Maria Gonzalez Cuervo and Jasmine Singh plowed through the state field and defeated Ali Welch and Demie Warner of Kamiakin, 6-3, 5-2, in the championship on Saturday.

A knee injury to Welch forced the Braves to forfeit with the Vikings one game away from winning outright.

With unusually bad weather for late May, many matches were delayed and/or moved indoors to the Tri-City Court Club in Kennewick, a move that pushed the Vikings to jump on teams early.

“Luckily, those conditions motivated Maria and Jasmine to complete their matches quickly,” said Viking head coach Chris Samuel. “Our short matches gave us time to observe the other teams for the next rounds. I’m proud of how we executed the game plan for each match.”

Cuervo and Singh, who originally planned to play singles as they had been all year, decided to join forces late in the season and never were threatened at state, only giving up five games total in three straight-set wins en route to the finals.

The pair’s finals victory featured pure shotmaking and many volley exchanges, with the match well in Inglemoor’s hands before Welch’s unfortunate injury.

The Vikings hit a low, wide shot down the alley that Welch made an incredible return on, but hit the court hard and could not continue.

“She screamed that she felt something pop, and at that point, I knew it was serious,” Samuel recalled. “It’s heartbreaking for anyone to end their high-school career that way.”

In earlier action, the pair dominated the opening rounds with 6-1, 6-0 and 6-2, 6-0 wins before routing Tess Manthou and Alyssa Nagai of Kentwood, 6-1, 6-1, in the semifinals.

The Vikings’ state title was the program’s first since 2000, when Lindsey Soffes came from behind to beat Sanya Indic of Fort Vancouver, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6.