Shawnee Mission East seniors Abby Long and Katie Schmidt have built up impressive resumes over the last four years, careers that few high school players could match.

As a doubles team, Long and Schmidt won nearly every match as they partnered up for 81 wins. 

But instead of reaching their goal to be second to none, they were always second to two. Those two also just happened to wear the same powder blue uniforms and spent the last few years pushing Long and Schmidt every day in practice before defeating them in nine tournament finals across three postseasons.

Long and Schmidt got by every Kansas team they faced except for Bryson Langford and Greta Stechschulte, who finished off their own storied doubles career last fall by beating Long and Schmidt for that ninth time to win their fourth straight 6A state title in doubles, which also matched the Lancers four-peat as team champs over that period.

Now that those two had graduated — Langford is now playing at Davidson College while Stechschulte plays at Amherst — the door was finally open for Long and Schmidt to achieve their short, yet very important, list of firsts that had so far eluded them.

Regional champs. League champs. State Champs.

They had already accomplished two of those in recent weeks. After the final day of 6A state tournament in Junction City on Oct. 14, Long and Schmidt finished off the last and most important of those accomplishments.

Long and Schmidt marched through this year’s 6A bracket on the way to their first state championships in doubles. They clinched their ultimate milestone with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Blue Valley Northwest senior Saraphina Wambi and sophomore Maryam Wambi, which was a rematch of the regional finals.
 

Long finished with 110 victories in her high school career, while Schmidt finished with 95, having missed a portion of her sophomore season because of an injury. With all that winning, this duo rarely let a tennis match affect their emotions. But this one got to them.

“I started crying, which I’ve never done, ever,” Schmidt said. “I was just bawling my eyes out.”

Both players traded in their calm demeanors on the court for a watery-eyed celebration with their teammates and families off the court.

Just like with their chemistry on the court, Long and Schmidt talked afterward about the victory in lockstep with each other. 

“It feels amazing. Honestly, we’ve been waiting for it,” Schmidt said.

With the same timing of calling out “mine” or “switch,” Long jumped in to complement her teammate’s answer.

“It finally happened,” Long said. “We’ve been waiting for this for four years. And we’ve had really tough opponents the past couple years. To be able to finally win it is awesome for us.

“I think we’re still sort of in shock, but we’re really, really happy.”

Shawnee Mission East head coach Andy Gibbs enjoyed seeing this duo finally get the chance to be No. 1 doubles and finish off their storied careers with the state title win.

“For Abigail and Katie to be able to finally break through and win their own doubles state championship is really exciting,” Gibbs said. “It’s fun to see their excitement for this.”

Gibbs noted that the excitement particularly stood out during a couple days of gloomy weather, including 30-plus mile-per-hour winds on Day 1, during the state tournament.

“One of the things we talked about going into yesterday was the conditions are going to be tough and just embrace the opportunity to play,” Gibbs said. “I think there were some times yesterday where I think our kids were maybe the only ones with some smiles, because the conditions were that tough.”
 

Long and Schmidt both felt like the tough conditions only added to their proud moment of finally becoming doubles champs.

“We definitely had to fight a little bit harder for some of those wins,” Long said. “We can’t play the same way we would every single match because of the wind and the other conditions. It feels just a little bit better to win knowing we had to fight a little bit harder.”

The duo’s long awaited state finals victory helped position Shawnee Mission East to capture its fifth straight state title, the program’s 15th all time. The Lancers scored 53 points to put an 18-point gap between them and state runner-up Blue Valley West. Olathe Northwest took third with 32 points. 

Long and Schmidt rolled through the first day with a pair of 6-1, 6-2 victories, first over Mill Valley senior Sofia Steinmetz and junior Marissa Hoelting and then over Blue Valley Northwest senior Tindra Lind and sophomore Cammie Peng. 

That’s when Long and Schmidt got to experience another first, at least from the winning side, by taking down teammates in a state match. The duo went up against fellow Shawnee Mission East seniors Katie Murphy and Ellie McDermed in the semifinals to start Day 2.

That ended up being the toughest test for Long and Schmidt as their teammates pushed them to their limit in a three-set thriller. After taking the first set 6-0, Murphy and McDermed won the second set 6-4, only for Long and Schmidt to return the favor with that same score in their favor.
 

In the doubles final against Wambi sisters, it looked like that Lancers clash in the prior round might have taken the legs out from under Long and Schmidt. Although they took the first set 6-1, the Huskies duo held even in the next set all the way up to a 5-all tie. But with that elusive state title sitting so close, Long and Schmidt powered through the next two games to take the set 7-5 and clinch the doubles championship.

“I’m just so happy about it,” Schmidt said. “We’ve talked about this every single year, especially when we’ve been in the finals against Bryson and Greta. We’re like, ‘Okay, one of these years it will be us.’”

After losing to Long and Schmidt, Murphy and McDermed shrugged off the loss and got ready for their own final high school match. The duo finished third in doubles by earning a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Olathe Northwest juniors Hannah Carney and Riley Terhune in the consolation final.

Murphy finished her career with 72 wins while McDermed finished with 58.

Gibbs said he was proud of Murphy making the transition to doubles this year after previously competing in singles and thrilled for McDermed to work her way up to varsity in her senior season to get her first taste of state.

“It’s exciting because it’s a different group each time,” Gibb said.

Battling on the next pair of courts over, juniors Ishya Bhavsar and Macy Garwood were not able to win their final matches. But just their appearance in the semifinals, especially Bhavsar advancing to the state final, helped give the Lancers an unreachable lead in the team race.

Gibbs said he was really impressed by his singles competitors and their growth as players over the last year and looks forward to seeing the level they can reach as they come back next year as seniors to try and defend the team’s state title streak. He specifically pointed to how impressive Garwood’s performance was this year after facing injury issues during her first two years on the team.

“I think she’s grown and got healthy, first of all,” Gibbs said. “But then just her confidence level has really kind of blossomed.”
 

To reach the semifinals, Garwood had to earn a comeback victory over Mill Valley sophomore Heidi Baillos in the quarterfinals. Baillos won the first set 6-3 before Garwood evened things up with a 6-2 win in second. Garwood fell behind 0-3 in the third and deciding set before winning six of the next seven games to take the set 6-4 and advance.

“She fought back and won that match against a player who I think in USTA events has beaten her the last couple of times they’ve played,” Gibbs said. “I think that’s a huge step for her.”

Both Garwood and Bhavsar ended up losing to the eventual 6A state champion, Blue Valley West senior Sarah Yan.

But their strong performances allowed Shawnee Mission East to reach a team total of 53 points, the most by Lancers during the team’s current state title streak. Their 18-point margin of victory matches the team’s edge of Blue Valley North in the 2021 state tournament for the biggest margin during the five-peat.

The Lancers have technically finished with a higher point total in previous state title wins, but those were prior to the current points format. Across the program’s 15 state titles dating back to 1988, this is the first Shawnee Mission East team to have four entries finish first, second, third and fourth.

The current Lancers were happy to make history, but even more happy to keep the streak alive.

“It was amazing to win another team state championship and keep it going,” Long said. “Hopefully they can keep it going next year.”

CLASS 6A CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Bluejay Tennis Facility, Junction City

TEAM SCORES

Shawnee Mission East 53, Blue Valley West 35, Olathe Northwest 32, Blue Valley Northwest 19, Mill Valley 16, Washburn Rural 16, Lawrence Free State 15, Blue Valley 9, Olathe West 8, Wichita Northwest 7, Garden City 5, Manhattan 5, Junction City 2, Blue Valley North 2.

SINGLES

Championship — S. Yan, Blue Valley West, def. I. Bhavsar, Shawnee Mission East, 6-1, 6-3. Third place — E. Novion, Olathe Northwest, def. M. Garwood, Shawnee Mission East, 6-0, 6-1. Fifth place — M. Lee, Free State, def. D. Pitchlyn, Blue Valley West, 8-4. Seventh place — L. Ruder, Olathe West, def. C Chedzoy, Washburn Rural, 8-4. Ninth place — H. Baillos, Mill Valley, def. C. Lee, Free State, 8-2. 11th place — A. Alvarez, Wichita Northwest, def. K. Schartz, Manhattan, 8-4. 

DOUBLES

Championship — K. Schmidt/A. Long, Shawnee Mission East, def. S. Wambi/M. Wambi, Blue Valley Northwest, 6-1, 7-5. Third place — E. McDermed/K. Murphy, Shawnee Mission East, def. H. Carney/R. Terhune, Olathe Northwest, 6-3, 6-3. Fifth place — C. Vijaykumar/A. Musti, Blue Valley West, def. C. Medina/S. Van Zante, Olathe Northwest, 8-3. Seventh place — K. Stone/M. Bajich, Blue Valley, def. C. Ireland/G. Martinez, Washburn Rural, 8-6. Ninth place — S. Steinmetz/M. Hoelting, Mill Valley, def. C. Peng/T. Lind, Blue Valley Northwest, 8-6. 11th place — I. Dumler/E. Stove, Mill Valley, def. K. Stubbs/C. Sparks, Wichita Northwest, 8-2.