Olathe Northwest made school history a year ago when the Ravens won their first league title in girls tennis. 

In 2025, the Ravens made history again. This time, they are back-to-back Sunflower League champions as they cruised to another league crown with 74 points. Shawnee Mission East was the league runner-up with 61 and Olathe West was third with 51. 

“I think it's a sign that last year wasn't a flash in the pan and that this program is here to stay,” Olathe Northwest coach Drew Smith said. “We lost 4 seniors from last year's team, so to be able to win again while replacing 4 amazing players is a phenomenal feat. All 6 of them, and many others on my team, have worked so hard since last year to improve, and the proof is in the pudding, as they say.  

“As recently as 2020, this program had never won a league or regional championship. This year we won league without any individual champions, which means all six of the girls really had to perform to put up enough points to bring home the title.” 

The individual crowns went to a couple different programs as the singles title went to a freshman who continued her perfect season. 

Lawrence Free State’s Eli Ward cruised to the top spot as she downed Olathe Northwest’s Seraphine Besong, 8-2, and improved her season record to 16-0. 
 

“Eli played great and faced some stiff competition,” Free State coach Randy Clark said. “She was consistent and was able to impose her game on her competition, which led to a successful day. She faced a wide variety of players with different skills, and she handled all of her opponents in an effective manner.” 

To get to the finals, Ward defeated Northwest’s Heidi Baillos 8-4 before knocking off Besong in the championship. As for Besong, she blanked Olathe North’s Diya Gupta, 8-0, to move to the finals and avenged her lone loss of the season up to that point. Gupta ended up defeating Baillos for third, 8-6. 

“I know Seraphine and Heidi were a little bit bummed because their day ended with a loss, but they played fantastic,” Smith said. “Seraphine avenged (up to that point) her only loss to North's Diya Gupta before losing to Eli Ward. She was in every point and every game in that championship match. Heidi got more games against Eli than anyone else this season so far in the semifinals, and then she played a really close match with Diya before bowing out. Nothing to hang our heads about there.” 

On the doubles side, the Shawnee Mission Northwest duo of Syra Honargohar and Erin O’Neal upset their way through the bracket. The No. 5 seed made a surprise run as they knocked off Olathe Northwest’s Emery Rand and Ada Smith with an 8-3 win in the semifinals. 
 

Then in the finals, they outlasted Shawnee Mission East’s Bella Broce and Catherine Beltrame for an 8-7 victory to win their first league title. 

“This is Syra and Erin's third season playing together, and they are on fire,” Shawnee Mission Northwest coach Morgan Moberg said,. “The exceeded my expectations this year already with that first place finish.” 

Rand/Smith went on to defeat Shawnee Mission Northwest’s Abby O’Connor and Nia Nightingale 8-4 to finish third overall. 

Blue Valley North edges Blue Valley Northwest for EKL title 

Blue Valley North has had its fair share of successes already this season winning the Kansas City Invitational and finishing runner-up by a point at the Wichita Collegiate Invitational. 

The Mustangs continued their winning ways last Saturday as they earned the Eastern Kansas League crown with 62 points, edging Blue Valley Northwest for the title by just one point. Blue Valley West was third with 53. 

“We were particularly excited to win the conference this year with such strong and evenly matched competition,” Blue Valley North coach Tracey Johnson said. “It is always uplifting to play against strong competition and have matches that test our abilities to the fullest.  The players in our league are all very familiar with each other and they all are competitive and exhibit extremely good sportsmanship and support their friends on other teams throughout the tournament.” 
 

Blue Valley North finished 1-2 in singles and got a dominant performance from its No. 1 player, Penelope Reed. The Mustang freshman cruised to the championship with an 8-0 win over Bishop Miege’s Ella Daniel and then knocked off junior teammate Prisha Dalal, 8-0, in the title match. 

Reed lost just one set the entire day and improved her record to 21-1 on the season. Her lone loss came earlier in the season to Olathe Northwest’s Heidi Baillos. 

“Penny is a very skilled tennis player and she has had a great season,” Johnson said. “Her one loss we versus one of her friends who had a better day that day. Penny's biggest accomplishment this season is that she has won every high school tournament she has played in to date. She is a fighter, motivated by good competition, and always pushes herself to do her best in her matches and practice.” 

Blue Valley Northwest senior Maryam Wambi teamed up with freshman Ella Wang to win the doubles crown as they outlasted Blue Valley West’s Chandana Vijaykumar and Angie Wang in an 8-4 match. 

Other tennis standouts: 
 

• Independence won the SEK league championship last Saturday as they edged runner-up Chanute with 43 points. Brooklyn Mattix and Morgan McLenon won the doubles title, while teammates Allie Denney and Sadie York took third in doubles and sealed the league crown by beating Chanute in the third place match. Sarah Veile finished second in singles. 
  
  “This league championship was a full team effort in every sense,” Independence coach Gina McLenon said. “And several of my six players are playing their best tennis of the season right now. I literally watched some of them grow as tennis players over the course of the day on Saturday. Brooklyn and Morgan are playing really well; I'm not sure if they have reached their potential yet, because they weren't tested at the league tournament the way the other Lady Bulldogs were."
   

  

• Chanute’s Ella Guernsey won the SEK singles crown with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Independence’s Sarah Veile in the championship. Guernsey improved her record to 27-2 on the season. 
  
  “Ella is having a fantastic year,” Chanute coach Jeff Smith said. “She played her game on Saturday and became a league champion in singles which hasn’t been done in a very long time for us. We hope she finishes strong here down the stretch.” 
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• Fort Scott senior Abbie Gorman earned her 100th career win last Satruday at the SEK tournament. Gorman is a three-time state medalist for the Tigers.