Paige Miles earns State Individual Singles Title

Photo courtesy of Juan Diego Catholic High School

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Paige Miles wins the 2008 Number 1 State Individual Tennis Title for Juan Diego Catholic High School. 

DRAPER — Paige Miles won the 2008 Number 1 Singles Individual State Title for Juan Diego Catholic High School in October.

"I knew Paige was going to be a good tennis player when I saw her play in middle school," said Arthur Miyazaki, Juan Diego Catholic High School head tennis coach.

"She has everything you could hope for," said Miyazaki. "Paige is smart, she knows how to play tennis, and she is beautiful. One year she was the homecoming princess. She is a very lucky girl. I have been coaching her since her freshman year. Unfortunately for Paige, she played for three years behind Romina Nedakovic, who was a year older than her.

Miyazaki said last year Miles could have played number one, because she played Nedakovic three times and beat her all three times. But because Nedakovic was a senior, Paige let her be the Number 1 player.

"Paige finished her career with 72 wins and no losses," said Miyazaki. "She won the Number 2 State Title her freshman, sophomore, junior years. She won the Number 1 Singles State Title her senior year. But she could have actually one the Number 1 Singles Title her sophomore, junior and senior years. She was better than the people who Nedakovic beat.

"We always knew she was going to be the best player that Juan Diego has ever had," said Miyazaki. "She has also been the most highly recruited player at Juan Diego. Nedakovic ended up playing for Brigham Young University. Paige actually accepted a scholarship at the University of Utah two weeks ago. But Paige had scholarship offers at De Paul University, Marquette University, the University of San Francisco, Fresno State University, California Polytechnic State University, and several others.

"I guess she did not want to go that far away from home, so she selected the University of Utah," said Miyazaki. "To the coach’s credit at the University of Utah, they offered her a full-ride scholarship her junior year, and she turned him down. He kept after her, and she finally accepted. But now Paige’s parents can watch her play without having to travel. The University of Utah offers a good program, so we are happy she is going to go there. They are ranked higher than De Paul and Marquette.

"She has been a captain for the last two years, and she has been a great leader," said Miyazaki. "She has been the engine that made the Juan Diego tennis machine move. I am sad to see her graduate, but life goes on and she has to move on to the next chapter of her life. We are excited for her.

"She has good serves, she plays smart, she hits a ton," said Miyazaki. "We expect her to do quite well in college. She goes for the winners. When she’s on, she is devastating.

"Some people are fighters, they are tenacious, and they hang in there," said Miyazaki. "Paige’s game is to open the court up with her ground strokes and as soon as she gets the first ball, she goes for it. She plays offense, offense, offense, and she does not get tight when she has to play defense.

"She is a terrific girl, she is an honor roll student, a team captain, academically smart, and she has it all," said Miyazaki.