15 CLASS 3-2-1A GIRLS TENNIS PLAYERS TO WATCH IN 2024

 

 
AMELIA BLACKMAN, WICHITA COLLEGIATE
 
Blackman played her complementary role well last fall in helping the Spartans extend their state title winning streak to 15 years. With teammate Lara de Carvalho winning the Class 3-2-1A singles crown and fellow Spartans Laney Conrad and Julia Herrman locking down doubles, Blackman aided the cause with a fifth-place singles finish, winning three consolation bracket matches by 8-3 scores after a quarterfinal loss to Marysville’s Shea Kramer. She’ll return to singles for her junior season and likely have a greater role as de Carvalho leaned toward not playing this fall, according to coach Simon Norman.
 

CHELSIE BROWN, STERLING
 
Brown, Sterling’s lone returning state qualifier, made considerable strides in her second high school season, posting a seventh-place finish in Class 3-2-1A singles with a 35-9 record. She ended the season with a 8-3 victory over Cimarron’s Emily Goetz, capping a 4-2 state tournament that included a 7-6, 6-0 victory over No. 7 seed Abby Holt of Larned to reach the quarterfinals. Brown, 16-5 and a state qualifier as a freshman, won four tournaments last season and finished third in the Hesston regional. She’ll continue playing singles for the Black Bears.
 

LANEY CONRAD AND JULIA HERRMAN, WICHITA COLLEGIATE
 
Conrad and Herrman didn’t seem to mind being the hunted in 2023, posting a 30-3 record that culminated in a successful defense of their Class 3-2-1A doubles title. The seniors plan to give it a final run, making them odds-on favorites to add a third career crown as Collegiate pursues a state team title for the 16^th consecutive year. After finishing 22-5 as sophomores to win their first state title, Conrad and Herrman showed flashes of dominance last season, defeating Hayden’s Lauren Sandstrom and Emily Sheetz – 4A champions the past two seasons – by an 8-1 score. At state, they won five of their eight sets without surrendering a game.        
 

 

 
REYGAN COONROD AND INARIE RIPPERT, ELLSWORTH
 
Ellsworth enjoyed a huge season as a team a year ago, winning every regular-season meet title and then adding Class 3-2-1A regional crown as well. On a team loaded with underclassmen, Coonrod and Rippert as a freshman and sophomore, respectively, led the way for the Bearcats, capturing five doubles titles throughout the season. After posting a runner-up regional finish, the duo advanced to the Class 3-2-1A semifinals where they avenged their regional finals loss to Hesston’s Elyse Griffin and Kori Kramer, taking a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) marathon victory to reach the finals, where they fell 6-0, 6-4 to Wichita Collegiate’s Laney Conrad and Julia Herrman. They finished the season with a 28-5 record and will lead a Bearcat team that returns all six qualifiers from its fourth-place state team.
   
 

MEREDITH DENTON, WABAUNSEE

Denton came into high school having never played competitive tennis but was thrust into a varsity spot right away as a freshman with only seven players out for the Charger program. She enters her senior season as a three-year starter and was a first-time state qualifier last year, making it to state in doubles with partner Baylie Tharman. The duo went 16-6 overall, winning the Wamego Invitational and taking second at regionals and came one win away from earning a state medal in Class 3-2-1A. Denton was 24-12 overall in doubles play last season, also teaming with younger sister Sarah, with whom she won the Chapman Quad. The Denton sisters will team up at No. 1 doubles this year and will be joined on the team by youngest sister, Emily, as well.

 

 

TATUM DOWNING AND LANGLEY OVERMAN, WICHITA COLLEGIATE
 
Downing and Overman accomplished what each of their fellow state-qualifying teammates did last season – won their final match. Now seniors, Downing and Overman aided Collegiate’s dominance in the Class 3-2-1A state tournament with a seventh-place finish. Runners-up to teammates Laney Conrad and Julia Herrman at the Conway Springs regional, Downing and Overman fell in the state quarterfinals to Conway’s Morgan and Sadie Koester. But they concluded a 3-2 tournament with an 8-6 victory in the battle for seventh over Phillipsburg’s Jocelyn Billings and Isabella Keesee. Downing and Overman finished with a 16-7 record.
 

 
ELYSE GRIFFIN, HESSTON
 
Griffin joined Hesston’s veteran doubles standout, Kori Kramer, last season for Kramer’s final run after her previous partner, Cassie Albin, graduated. Now Kramer has her diploma, and Griffin is moving forward after the duo went 25-6 and finished fourth in Class 3-2-1A. With 40 career victories between singles and doubles, she will try to keep things rolling in her junior season. She won the Swathers’ home regional with Kramer and they rolled into the state semifinals, where Ellsworth’s Reygan Coonrod and Inarie Rippert avenged a regional final loss to the Swathers to end their title hopes.
 

 
KARLIE HAASE, ELLSWORTH

Haase was a key figure in a youth movement that propelled Ellsworth to unprecedented success last year with the Bearcats winning every tournament as a team until the state meet. Haase held down the No. 1 singles spot for the bulk of last year as a freshman and finished with a 19-9 record overall in singles play. A tough draw at state saw her run into eventual state champion Lara De Carvalho of Wichita Collegiate in the second round, but she bounced back from a loss to work her way through the consolation bracket for a 10th-place state finish. Haase also went 9-0 in doubles with Hannah Vague last season. Haase and fellow state qualifier Felis de la Cruz return at singles for the Bearcats, who also return both state-qualifying doubles teams as well as they look to build on last year's success that saw them plce fourth at state as a team, just two points away from a state trophy.
 

 
GREER KICE, WICHITA CLASSICAL
 
Kice, a senior, has held down Classical’s No. 1 singles spot since her freshman year. She is coming off a career-best sixth-place finish in Class 3-2-1A, posting a 21-11 record. Kice also finished fourth in the Conway Springs regional, falling to Wichita Collegiate’s Lara de Carvalho and Amelia Blackman in the final two rounds. The three-time state qualifier went 21-13 as a freshman and finished 12^th at state, then finished 18-8 in singles as a sophomore, when she fell one victory shy of a state placing.
 

 

 
MORGAN AND SADIE KOESTER, CONWAY SPRINGS
 
The Koester cousins enter their junior season as two-time state qualifiers, but did so together for the first time last fall. The partnership produced a 21-10 record and third-place finishes in both the Conway Springs regional and Class 3-2-1A state tournament. After losing to Wichita Collegiate’s Tatum Downing and Langley Overman in the regional semifinals, the Koesters knocked off the Spartans’ No. 2 team in the state quarters. They fell to Collegiate’s eventual champions, Laney Conrad and Julia Herrman, in the semifinals, but gave them their toughest set of the championship, losing 7-5. As freshmen, Morgan qualified for state in singles and Sadie advanced in doubles with Grace Bender.
 

 
MOLLY MARTIN, HESSTON
 
Martin made progress last fall in her second season at No. 1 singles. After reaching state as a sixth-place regional finisher with a sub-.500 record as a sophomore, Martin improved to 18-15 as a junior and reached the second day of the Class 3-2-1A tournament, finishing 12^th after a fifth-place regional finish. One of three returning state qualifiers for the Swathers, Martin is entering her senior season.