Staff Photo By Jake Olson: Fairmont High School Tennis player Allison Slama serves the ball against Redwood Valley on Sept 29 at the Fairmont High School campus.

FAIRMONT – Fairmont High School girls tennis players Emelia Klanderud and Allison Slama are set to take the stage in the 2025 Class A Individual Championship Doubles State Tournament this Thursday at the Reed-Sweat Tennis Center in Minneapolis.

After successful individual seasons for the Cardinals as the No. 1 and No. 2 overall players, the two come together to try and make a deep run in the state tournament this week.

“Emelia kind of earned her way into the varsity lineup a few years ago as a doubles player, so we knew that she could also play doubles really well,” Fairmont head coach Laura Olsen said. “She played a handful of times this season while going undefeated. She and Allison played together last year, too, in the individual tournament and competed well.”

The two were able to secure the No. 2 seed in the Section 2A Girls Tennis Individual Doubles bracket, earning a first-round bye in the process.

On Oct 8, Klanderud and Slama won three straight contests over the likes of Erin Prescher and Addison Prescher from Blue Earth, Ellie Romsdahl and Alivia Romsdahl from Saint James, and Macy Sohre and Madison Ward from Maple River to earn their spot in state.

The pair’s first-round matchup will be against Tara Beyer and Emily McGinty from Benson/Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg Co-op. Winners of this match are set to face Abbey Perry and Addie Berman from Breck or Braylee Wienen and Piper Greene from Thief River Falls, respectively.

“They [Emelia and Allison] had some challenges in the individual tournament last year that really fueled them to work hard in the offseason to compete even better this year,” Olsen said. “So, just really proud of how motivated they were. They went into it [this year’s individual tournament] confident in their abilities. Not necessarily knowing what the outcome would be, but they knew they put in the time.”