WICHITA — Don't look for gold on a sandy beach, don't drill for oil on a city street and don't expect the doubles bracket of the KSHSAA Class 6A Girls Tennis Championships to come down to any other team than Shawnee Mission East.

Juniors Bryson Langford and Greta Stechshulte have made sure of that third part for the last three years. The duo continued their reign at the 2021 state tournament Oct. 16 at Riverside Tennis Complex in Wichita.

Langford and Stechshulte only dropped three total games as they advanced to the finals for a battle with sophomore teammates Abigail Long and Katie Schmidt, a rematch of last year's finals. Langford and Stechschulte held on for a 6-4, 6-4 victory to win their third straight state doubles championship.

"It feels pretty good," Langford said of winning the three-peat. "We were super excited to win that. It was obviously a close match and it was also really fun to play our teammates again."

The tandem was the clear favorite throughout the season and the state tournament, but Stechschulte points to the final game count to prove that it's nowhere close to automatic.

"Even if you win the first set 6-0, you don't know what's going to happen in the second set," she said. "You just always have to keep your composure and stay focused, keep that same focus and intensity so in tougher matches it's there when you need it."
 

Shawnee Mission East added singles finishes of fourth place by senior Bridget Epstein and seventh place by sophomore Katie Murphy to win the team's third straight state championship. 

"We're excited to win another team state title," Lancers head coach Andrew Gibbs said. "I'm excited for the kids and to have had contributions from everybody over the last two days."

Gibbs talked with the team about each competitor performing to their capability and doing their part for the team's overall success during the team's final practice before hitting the road for state. 

The combined effort gave the team 49 points, putting a big gap between Blue Valley North in second at 31 points. Blue Valley Northwest edged out Olathe Northwest for the third and final team trophy with 23 points to the Ravens 21.

"A state championship is the product of a team and each part of that team, pulling its weight and doing their job," Gibbs said. "I think our players did that."

Langford and Stechschulte are a major reason Shawnee Mission East has won each year of their high school, but Gibbs said their impact has really amplified with their leadership on and off the court this season.

"It's been a lot of fun to have them and see them grow from freshmen who were good players, but trying to fit in, to figuring out how they fit with a really strong team that year," he said. "Now they're taking the lead."

Gibbs said that duo, along with Epstein, have become the three leaders of the team who pull everybody along and into the right direction. He pointed out how that leadership includes helping the younger players that will hopefully follow their example in future seasons.

"They've really wanted to help them become better players, too," Gibbs said. "So I think that's been a fun piece, watching them grow as leaders of our group."

Those players have gained a lot of experience playing alongside Langford and Stechschulte, but the duo have often been those players' biggest obstacle as well.
 

Long and Schmidt have only lost seven times in their two seasons of high school tennis. All seven have been against Lanford and Stechschulte, with six occurring in the finals of either league, regionals or state.

"It's kind of unfortunate that only one of us can always win," Stechschulte said. "But I think we all have a really good time out there competing."

Although Long and Schmidt jokingly nodded in agreement when their elder teammates were asked if the rest of the Lancers were getting sick of losing to them, Langford described it as an incredible experience for both duos to lock up the doubles title for Shawnee Mission East before they even step out on the court for the final.

"We all really love each other," Langford said. "We're super competitive on the court, but I think off the court we're all super close."

Langford and Stechschulte definitely want to see the other Lancers eventually take the reins, but neither one has plans for moving over to singles to let some other duos like Long and Schmidt take a crack at winning state doubles titles.

"Well, they're a year younger than us so they'll have another year," Stechschulte said.

Langford and Stechschulte are willing to play wherever their team needs them to have the best show of earning a four-peat as a team, but they personally want to finish off their high school careers battling for one more state title in doubles. 

"It's just really special to us to be able to win together in doubles," Stechschulte said. It's just something we really enjoy."

Langford added: "We love sharing that experience. I don't know how to describe it. It's just such a nice feeling to be able to win it with her."

If they achieve that feeling at state one more time, they'd become the first team to complete a four-peat together. The only other competitors to win four doubles titles in Kansas was Amy Rheem and Hannah Osland of Wichita Collegiate.

Rheem won four doubles state titles in Class 3-2-1A from 1993-96 with three different partners, winning the first two with Leah Small, who finished with three after winning one in 1992, before winning with Undsay McRae in 1995 and Caroline Walling in 1996. Osland sandwiched two 4A titles around two 3-2-1A titles from 2012-15, pairing with Morgan Bergen for the first and Allie Lindwall for the final three. Just like the Lancers duo, Rheem and Osland helped their teams win state team titles all four years. 

Both competitors are quick to point out that no matter how impressive their record may look, winning is never guaranteed.

"It's always a challenge to go out there and play, especially with the pressure of winning it three times, four times," Stechschulte said.

Still, the pressure is worth it to them.

"It would be an absolutely incredible experience," Langford said. "We'd be so lucky. It would be a great memory and a super big accomplishment. I think we're both really trying to strive for that."