GIRLS STATE TENNIS STORYLINES
 
CLASS 6A

At Riverside Tennis Complex, Wichita
 
MANHATTAN’S HARKIN RELISHES PRESSURE OF TITLE DEFENSE
 
Jillian Harkin knows she’s a marked woman at this weekend’s Class 6A state tournament in Wichita.
 
That’s the price of being the defending state singles champion. Harkin won her first state crown a year ago, defeating Blue Valley Northwest’s Emily Chiasson 6-4, 6-4 in a tightly contested title match.
 
Yet if there’s any added pressure in being the defending champion, Harkin said she relishes it.
 
“I like having the target on my back,” the Manhattan senior said. “I like having that motivation. It makes me play better every single match knowing that they’re going to play their best tennis so I have to play mine. I love the competition.”
 
If competition is what Harkin desires, she’ll have no shortage of it at the Riverside Tennis Complex this weekend. The Class 6A singles field is loaded with top-notch singles talent looking to dethrone Harkin.
 
Six of last year’s top-seven finishers at state in singles are in the field again this year, including runner-up Chiasson and third-place finisher Ella Novion of Olathe Northwest, whom Harkin topped in the semifinals 6-1, 6-1. The list of contenders also has added Free State sophomore Kinley VanPelt, who is the lone undefeated singles player in the state in any classification with a 25-0 record.

VanPelt is the top seed at the state tournament with Harkin and Chiasson on the same side of the bracket, headed for a semifinal showdown.
 
“This will be the most challenging state I’ve had in all my years,” said Harkin, who finished third at state as a freshman and second as a sophomore before reaching the top last season. “I’m trying to mentally prepare for that. Everyone is super-competitive and this is the most important weekend of high school tennis so everyone is going to be playing their best and on their best game. The competition this weekend is going to be insane and I’m excited to see how it plays out.”
 
Harkin owns a 30-1 record this season (132-5 in her career) that includes wins over Novion (8-3), 5A contender Lauren Sweeney of Seaman (7-6, 6-1) and defending 4A champion Ainzley Zulueta (6-2, 6-2). Her only loss came to Chiasson at the Kansas City Invitational, an 8-3 decision in extreme heat conditions.
 
While the loss stung at the time – just her third regular-season loss of her four-year career – Harkin said it could pay dividends this weekend.
 
“That day she just played a really great match and the points were all going her way,” Harkin said. “That was a really great match for me. To have that loss before state so I know how it feels and I don’t want to feel it again. It’s really good to have that match under my belt because she’s improved a lot and has worked on a lot of things. That was kind of a wake-up call for me, telling me I need to work harder if we meet again at state.”
 
Harkin said she’s worked hard on improving her net game and serve this season. She’s also worked on her mental game so she’s ready for the challenges she’ll face this weekend with everyone gunning for her title.
 
Which is how things have felt the entire season.
 
“I definitely feel like there’s been a target on my back throughout the whole season with having that state championship,” she said. “Everyone wants to get games or a set off of me so they play super-hard against me and are super-competitive. That just makes me play harder and better.”
   

FREE STATE’S VANPELT TRIES TO COMPLETE UNBEATEN SEASON

Lawrence Free State sophomore Kinley VanPelt earned the top seed in the Class 6A singles bracket after going 25-0 this season. 

VanPelt has been impressive during her first season on the court for the Firebirds, but she strangely has not faced her strongest challengers for the state title.

She was set to face Blue Valley Northwest’s Emily Chiasson in the Kansas City Invitational final before the tournament ended early because of a heat restriction. She did get two wins over Olathe Northwest’s Ella Novion, including a 8-1 win in the Sunflower League final, and a 6-0, 6-0 win over Shawnee Mission East’s Katie Murphy at regionals. Both are on the 2-line in the state bracket.

But her real preparation for facing the other players on the 1-line, such as Chiasson, reigning 6A champion Manhattan senior Jillian Harkin and Dodge City senior Flaminia Lepri, comes from competition outside of high school tennis.

VanPelt is currently ranked as 63rd national for USTA’s 16 & Under rankings.

Just as importantly, Chiasson and Harkin will have to battle each other in a rematch of last year’s Class 6A final a round earlier. The winner will most likely have VanPelt waiting for them in the finals.  
 
CLASS 5A

At District Tennis Complex, Andover
 

 
SEAMAN’S SWEENEY EYES SINGLES TITLE TO GO WITH DOUBLES CROWN
 
The 2021 season was the ultimate high for Seaman’s Lauren Sweeney. Teaming with Grace Unruh, the Viking duo not only captured the Class 5A state doubles title but finished the season 36-0.
 
With Unruh graduating, Sweeney had a decision to make. She could stay in doubles – which she’s played throughout her high school career -- and go for a repeat with a new partner. Or she could give singles a go for the first time.
 
It didn’t take much deciding.
 
“At first I kind of thought about doubles because of the success I’ve had there,” said Sweeney, who also took fourth at state with Unruh in 2020 and was a state qualifier in 2019 with Emma Dowd. “But I was pretty dead set on singles for college-wise and looking for something to challenge myself a little bit.”
 
She approached Seaman coach Jamie Robinson not long after last season ended about her decision and he was all for it, particularly with the Vikings having plenty of solid options to fill her doubles void.
 
“She wanted to play singles and had great summer tournament success,” Robinson said. “It also made total sense maximizing team points from a team standpoint this season.”
 
Sweeney poured herself into making the transition to singles over the summer and was eager to see how it would translate to the high school season. Needless to say, it’s gone better than she expected.
 
After capturing titles at the United Kansas Conference and Class 5A regional meets the past two weeks, Sweeney will take a 29-5 record into this weekend’s Class 5A state tournament at the Andover District Tennis Courts where she is the No. 1 overall seed. She has the second-most wins over any player in the state-tourney field with only De Soto’s Kylie Albright – who took sixth at Sweeney’s regional – having more.
 
Of Sweeney’s five losses, two have come to defending Class 4A state champion Ainzley Zulueta of Hayden, both in tight matches – 8-6 at the Olathe South Invitational and 6-4, 6-3 at the Topeka City Championships. Another loss came to defending Class 6A champion Jillian Harkin of Manhattan (7-6, 6-1), another to Free State undefeated sophomore Kinley VanPelt (6-1, 6-0) and one to Olathe Northwest’s Ella Novion (8-3), who took third in 6A last year.
 
Sweeney also handed fellow 5A contender Janae Montoya of Salina Central her only loss of the season two weeks ago at the Topeka West Invitational. Another big win on the ledger was an 8-7 (8-6) tiebreaker win at the Olathe South Invitational over Blue Valley North’s Shelby Smith, who finished fifth in Class 6A last year. 
 
“I wanted to do the best I could obviously,” she said. “But I have been surprised by how well it’s gone. Some of the people I’ve beaten, it’s been like, ‘OK, I can play with the best out there.’ Beating (Smith) at the Olathe South Tournament really opened my eyes to what I could do.”
 
Sweeney said there has been an adjustment in both her physical and mental approach to matches now that she no longer has Unruh sharing the court with her.
 
“It’s a lot more wearing on my mental side – you have to move on very fast because you don’t have any one there to pick you up,” Sweeney said. “I was always more of the take a risk player and Grace was more the relax and consistently get it in and let the other team make a mistake. I’ve kind of taken on the more consistent approach and know when to pull the trigger and when not to.”
 
With 2021 5A state singles champion Reagan Boleski of Kapaun Mt. Carmel having graduated after last season, the throne in 5A is open this year. And the competition appears to be wide open.
 
Bishop Carroll’s Brynn Steven was runner-up to Boleski last year and is 21-2 this season with her only in-state loss coming to Salina Central’s Montoya, who was fifth at state last year. Andover’s Molly Gaddis was fourth at state a year ago and is 23-8 this season, taking runner-up at regionals to Steven.
 
With Sweeney’s resume, she’s certainly established herself as a top contender in what appears to be a wide-open battle for the title.
 
“It’s a confidence boost knowing that I know what it takes to win a state championship,” Sweeney said. “Obviously it’s singles, not doubles so it’s different, but similar in ways. I want to challenge for it as much as I can. That would be the best way to go out my senior year. We’ll just see how it plays out and hope for the best.”
   

MONTOYA, SALINA CENTRAL AIM FOR HIGHER FINISHES
 
In one way, the Class 5A state tournament will be different this year for Salina Central, with coach McKenzie Weishaar on maternity leave after the recent adoption of her newborn son Graham.
 
In other ways, it will be quite familiar, with the Mustangs bringing back five underclassmen who helped them finish second to fellow Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail Division II member Andover in 2021.
 
Led by regional and league singles champion Janae Montoya, the Mustangs qualified all of their entries for state in winning the regional they hosted on Saturday.
 
Montoya, a fifth-place state finisher last year as a sophomore, will be joined by current sophomores Katelyn Rupe, Kinsley Foth and triplets Claire, Addi and Mallory Renfro. All but Foth competed at state last October.
 
“It certainly helps,” said Central assistant Clark Renfro, the triplets’ father and acting head coach. “Getting that state experience in and that high level of tennis always helps.
 
“They all play a lot of tennis and they play other sports, so they understand the rigors that go in with competition. They really just have the mindset that they want to get better each and every day.”
 
Montoya brings the best record into the singles draw at 28-1, with her lone loss to Emporia regional champion Lauren Sweeney of Seaman. Sweeney’s head-to-head victory helped her earn the top seed, and put Montoya in the singles bracket’s bottom half with Bishop Carroll junior Brynn Steven, the 2021 singles runner-up whom Montoya defeated earlier this season.
 
“Janae has just really focused in the last year on improving her game really all-around, both physically and mentally,” Renfro said. “She’s played a lot, working on her strengths and weaknesses. She enjoys working hard as do all the girls.”
 
Rupe (23-9) will make her second state singles appearance after finishing seventh a year ago. One of the state’s top distance runners, she is also competing in cross country this fall after focusing on tennis last season due to a school district policy that limits freshmen to one sport per season.
 
“She manages her time so well and hasn’t really missed a beat,” Renfro said. “She’s somebody who takes both sports really serious and we’ve been able to work with her to manage that workload.”
 
The Renfro sisters shuffled doubles partners this season with much success. Addi Renfro, who finished seventh at state as a freshman with now-graduated Mackenzie Nutter, is playing with Mallory this season. They are 26-6, an identical record to Foth and Claire Renfro, who edged them 6-0, 3-6, 7-5 in the regional final.
 
“We had some ideas early in the season, but those were the combinations that really seemed to work the best,” Renfro said. “That was our plan, to find something they were comfortable with and let them run with it.”
   
 
MILL VALLEY FRESHMAN OVERCOMES LEAGUE SETBACK TO WIN REGIONAL TITLE

Class 5A singles is loaded with talented returning players who have their eyes set on winning a state title.

But among the experienced junior and seniors is one freshman who earned herself the final spot on the 1-line.

Mill Valley freshman Heidi Baillos finished the regular season with a 24-9 record by winning seven straight matches heading into league play. Baillos got upset by Free State’s Maya Lee in the first round. Baillos did not let that setback affect her confidence at regionals, where she powered her way into the finals against Bonner Springs junior Penelope Kline.

Kline took the first set 6-3, but Baillos won 6-2, 6-4 to win the regional singles title. Her win helped give the Jaguars a regional team title as well. 
 

CLASS 4A

At Harmon Park Tennis Complex, Prairie Village
 

HAYDEN LOOKS TO MAKE HISTORY
 
Coming home from the Baldwin Invitational, Hayden tennis coach Christy Sheetz had a bit of a revelation.
 
The Wildcats had just wrapped up a stellar day at the tourney, going a combined 19-1 in singles and doubles play with the lone loss coming in a tiebreaker. No. 1 singles player Ainzley Zulueta dropped only two games in going 5-0 while the doubles teams of Lauren Sandstrom and Emily Sheetz (No. 1) and Briahna Barnett and Sloane Sims (No. 2) also went 5-0 and combined to allow more than two games in just two of those matches.
 
On the way home, the conversation began.
 
“We talked about how we can come home with a state championship,” Sheetz said.
 
Hayden goes into this weekend’s Class 4A state tournament at Prairie Village’s Harmon Park on quite a roll. The Wildcats captured their first-ever Topeka City Championship team title in late September. After a third-place finish at the Centennial League meet behind 6A schools Manhattan and Washburn Rural, the Wildcats won last week’s regional title at home, qualifying all six players for state.
 
That gives Hayden the firepower to go after another first – a Class 4A team championship. The girls’ program has never accomplished that feat in its rich history.
 
“Our team is looking pretty solid,” Sandstrom said.
 
Sandstrom and Sheetz added a regional title as well and will look to improve on last year’s seventh-place state finish. The city champs take a 30-4 mark into state, the most wins of any doubles team in the field.
 
Zulueta, meanwhile, will be looking to add a second straight state singles title after taking last year’s crown as a freshman. The Wildcat sophomore is 24-2 this season with both losses coming to Manhattan’s Jillian Harkin, last year’s Class 6A state champion.
 
Zulueta began the year with a huge victory at the Wichita Collegiate Tournament of Champions where she topped Wichita Trinity Academy’s Isabella Sebits 8-2 and two-time state champion Emma Mantovani of Wichita Collegiate 8-4. Sebits was the 4A state champion in 2020 and is 28-2 this season.
 
Zulueta also owns an 8-1 win over Independence’s Abby Veile, a 4A regional champion who is 29-7, as well as two wins over 5A contender Lauren Sweeney of Seaman. In last week’s regional finals, she handed Chapman’s Elyssa Frieze just her second loss of the season with a 6-1, 6-1 victory.
 
“(Collegiate) gave me just a bunch of confidence,” Zulueta said. “Playing two really good players like that at the start of the season helped me realize how much more I needed to work. I’ve got quite a bit of momentum and my confidence is high.”
 
Hayden was third at state last year, finishing behind McPherson and tied with Wellington for second but losing out on a tiebreaker.
 
McPherson graduated its doubles teams that finished 1-2 at state last year, but has reloaded and went 1-2 at regionals led by the tandem of Riggs Kuhn (seventh at state in singles last year) and Brodie Kuhn, who are 23-2. The Bullpups also finished 2-3 at regionals in singles.
 
Independence dominated its regional, finishing 1-2 in both singles and doubles play and joins Hayden as top challengers for McPherson’s crown. Trinity Academy has firepower at the top of its line with regional champions in Sebits (singles) and Darcy Dunne and Sophia Majors (doubles).
   

COLBY’S BELLAMY LOOKS TO CONTINUE RAPID IMPROVEMENT,  MAKE NOISE IN 4A 

Hayden Bellamy started playing tennis just two years and three months ago, picking up the sport as a freshman. 

Since then, the Colby junior has compiled an 83-10 record and appeared in two state tournaments with a fourth-place finish in Class 3-2-1A last year. 

“I feel like every match I improve and get a ton better,” Bellamy said. “I’ve improved my strategy, knowing what my strengths are to win a match. I feel like that’s something I’ve got a lot better at this season.”

Battle tested, Bellamy is ready for her next challenge, gearing up for the Class 4A tournament.

Bellamy enters state with a 32-1 record, winning the last week’s 4A regional at McPherson without dropping a set. 

“The goal this year was to play some of my best tennis and just work really hard. I’ve been working very, very hard on my serve,” Bellamy said. 

Colby coach Wendy Weishaar said Bellamy honed her skills with a busy offseason, putting in work at Colby’s indoor tennis center while also playing summer tournaments and getting instruction from tennis professionals. 

“Her ascension in tennis is just such bigger leaps and bounds at this age for her, because she didn’t start until two years and three months ago,” Weishaar said. “A lot of the other girls have their leaps and bounds at a younger age. Her’s keep going and going. I expect her to even come out of state as a better player than when she went into state. It looks like she’s going to continue to climb.”

Colby moved to 4A for tennis, bringing a new set of postseason opponents for Bellamy. 

“At first, I wasn’t too sure, but now I’m kind of excited about it because I like the opportunity to play new people that we never get to play,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Bellamy faced her toughest competition of the season at the Wichita Collegiate tournament on Sept. 24. She went 4-1 with wins over four players who qualified for state in their respective classes – Andover’s Mia Jaramillo, Kapaun Mt. Carmel’s Clara Hocker and Independence’s Ava Morris and Abby Veile. Her only loss was to Bishop Carroll’s Logan Jagolinzer in a tiebreaker.  

“That was a huge tournament for me because there were a couple girls there that I had never beaten before that played in summer tournaments,” Bellamy said. “That really helped with my confidence levels and made me feel a lot more ready for regionals and state, especially playing 4A players.”

After calling her first state tournament appearance as a freshman “terrifying,” Bellamy said she felt more comfortable in last year’s 3-2-1A tournament, reaching the semifinals. 

“I felt like I handled the pressure well,” Bellamy said.

A key to a deep run this weekend will hinge on her execution of strategy and success with her serve, Bellamy said. 

“Really making sure that I use my strengths and use my patterns that I know can get me wins,” she said. “Making sure that I’m getting my first serves in and not double faulting would be a huge one.”

“I’m looking for her to play her best and understand strategy more this year,” Weishaar said. “Last year, she didn’t quite understand strategy. I’m expecting to see her have a lot more of that in her play this year and let her experience what that feels like against the better players.”  

WICHITA TRINITY’S SEBITS SEEKS SECOND TITLE IN BOUNCEBACK SEASON
 
An opportunity that required plenty of patience arrives this weekend for Wichita Trinity senior Isabella Sebits.
 
Sebits, the Class 4A singles champion as a sophomore in 2020, returns to state for a final time after back and knee injuries prematurely ended her junior campaign. She’ll take a 28-2 record into the 4A tournament after winning last weekend’s regional at Wellington.
 
Sebits posted a 27-7 record and finished fourth in 4A as a freshman, then capped a stellar 29-4 sophomore season with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over 2019 champion Emma Mantovani of Wichita Collegiate in the state title match. Her bid for a repeat was stopped early in her junior season when the combination of ailments forced her to shut down.
 
In her return this fall, Sebits helped Trinity win Central Plains League and regional titles. Her lone losses came in the first tournament of the season to Hayden’s Ainzley Zulueta, who won Sebits’ vacated 4A title a year ago, and Bishop Carroll’s Brynn Steven, the 2021 5A runner-up.
 
With teammates and regional champions Darcy Dunne and Sophia Majors looking to improve on a third-place 4A doubles finish last season, Sebits and the Knights could be players in the team title chase.
 

CLASS 3-2-1A

At Kossover Tennis Center, Topeka
 

WICHITA COLLEGIATE READY FOR RUN AT 14 IN A ROW
 
Wichita Collegiate coach Dave Hawley is generally an upbeat guy, so his social media post after the Spartans’ regional victory Saturday at Conway Springs and sweep of the top two places in singles and doubles was nothing extraordinary.
 
“If they play next weekend like they did today, we will be so pleased,” Hawley wrote.
 
The Spartans are set for a run at their state-leading 33^rd girls team tennis title Friday and Saturday in the Class 3-2-1A tournament at Topeka’s Kossover Tennis Center. Led by senior and two-time state singles champion Emma Mantovani, Collegiate will try to extend its team championship streak as either 4A or 3-2-1A winners to 14 consecutive years.
 
Mantovani, a senior, won the 4A singles title as a freshman over Circle’s Annabelle Adams. After falling to Wichita Trinity’s Isabella Sebits in the 4A final in 2020, Mantovani earned her first 3-2-1A crown and second overall with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Ellsworth’s Nicole Haase last October.
 
Mantovani will enter her final state tournament as a regional runner-up after defaulting due to illness to freshman teammate Lara De Carvalho in last weekend’s final. De Carvalho is the top seed in the state singles draw at 25-5, while Mantovani enters at 23-4.
 
Collegiate’s 26 points in the regional were equally distributed between singles and doubles, as Spartan seniors Kinsey Nichols and Tatum Bhargava rallied for a 5-7, 7-6, 6-1 victory over sophomore teammates Laney Conrad and Julia Herrman in the doubles championship. Nichols and Bhargava enter state with a 9-1 record, with their lone loss to Wellington 4A regional runners-up Kayla Babcock and Taegen Nickel of Buhler.
 
Conrad, who helped Collegiate win last year’s 3-2-1A title with a fifth-place singles finish, is 18-5 with Herrman this season.
   


MARYSVILLE’S KRAMER READY TO MAKE SOME NOISE
 
Just a 10^th-place finisher at the Class 3-2-1A state tournament in singles last season, Marysville’s Shea Kramer may not garner the same attention as others in this year’s singles draw going into the weekend at Topeka’s Kossover Tennis Center.
 
But being under the radar may suit the Bulldog junior just fine. And her resume would suggest she’s a legitimate contender for the title.
 
Kramer rolled through her regional tournament last week on her home court. She dropped just six games in four sets, taking a 6-2, 6-2 win over Sacred Heart’s Katie Weiss in the finals.
 
With a 26-6 record, Kramer boasts one of the top marks in Class 3-2-1A this season. Only Central Plains’ Kyla Metro (28-1) and Cimarron’s Emily Goetz (28-4) have more wins this season among 3-2-1A state singles qualifiers.
 
What’s more, Kramer hasn’t dropped a match against a 3-2-1A foe. Two of her losses came to Salina Central’s Janae Montoya, who is 28-1 this season with one of those defeats a tight 7-6 (6-4), 6-2 decision. Three other losses have come to 2021 state champions – Class 6A’s Jillian Harkin of Manhattan (twice) and Class 4A’s Ainzley Zulueta of Hayden – and the sixth loss came to 4A challenger Elyssa Frieze, who took third at state last year.
   

CENTRAL PLAINS’ METRO ESTABLISHES HERSELF AS TOUGH SINGLES PLAYER

Central Plains’ Kyla Metro was forced to make a huge adjustment at midseason last year, switching from doubles to singles after an injury to her doubles partner, Brynna Hammeke. 

Metro and Hammeke had made a formidable team, placing fifth in 3-2-1A as freshmen and third as sophomores. 

“I could have never imagined not playing with her, so it was just hard to think that I was going to be all by myself on the court and not be able to celebrate with her when we had a good point,” Metro said. “It was really hard.”

Still, Metro managed to find her groove going solo, reaching state and placing seventh in 3-2-1A last season in singles. 

“It takes some adjusting, doing all the work instead of half of the work,” Metro said. “I felt pretty comfortable with it, and was having a lot of fun with it, so that made it easier, too.”

This year, the senior has established herself as one of the top singles players in western Kansas. 

Metro will take a 28-1 record into the Class 3-2-1A state tournament at Topeka’s Kossover Tennis Center. 

She captured a regional title with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Phillipsburg’s Makenna Russom in the final last week in WaKeeney. 

Metro will open the state tourney against the winner of a first-round match between Smoky Valley’s Lena Rauchholz and Wichita Classical’s Greer Kice. 

Metro’s only blemish on her record is an 8-6 loss to Rauchholz back on Aug. 30. She later avenged that loss a week later, defeating Rauchholz 8-4. 

Phillipsburg captured the regional team title at WaKeeney, qualifying singles players Russom and Alivia Solida and doubles team Isabella Keesee and Jocelyn Billings. Osborne’s Gracie Riner and Leavie Riner were the doubles champs at the WaKeeney regional and enter state with a 16-2 record.