OLATHE — For the second straight year, the Olathe Northwest girls tennis team left no doubt about who owns the court.  

After a strong showing on day one of the Class 6A state tournament Friday, the Ravens’ championship repeat felt less like a competition and more like a coronation. 

Olathe Northwest recorded 38 points when Saturday’s tournament finished at the College Boulevard Activity Center and earned back-to-back state championships. The final day of the tournament ended up being a day of celebration. 

“It is amazing,” Olathe Northwest coach Drew Smith said. “I thought we had a shot just based on how deep we were, so this is just awesome. Last year I kind of knew that we were going to win, as cocky as that sounds, but this year we had a shot.  

“As the year went on, and as the results came in, then my confidence really started to grow. We had a goal to repeat and the girls settled on that as a realistic goal at the beginning of the year, so to have that happen is amazing. They all performed so well and above my expectations.” 

Lawrence Free State challenged Olathe Northwest as they were the state runner-up with 30 points and Blue Valley North was third with 25.  

Still, the Ravens were able to get out to big lead after Friday’s competition where they put both singles players into the semifinals and the Ravens’ doubles team also reach the semis. 

“We were sitting pretty well after day one,” Smith said. “We basically needed to win one match, other than us playing each other, or we needed a couple teams to lose a match. I felt pretty good going into Saturday, and then after the first round of back side matches, that had already happened. So to have it over early was really nice and a lot less stressful.” 
 

Freshman Seraphine Besong led the Ravens in the singles department as the No. 3 seed earned a spot in the finals, but it wasn’t an easy journey. 

On Friday, Besong earned a 6-1, 6-2 win over Washburn Rural’s Bridget Hoops and then had to face the No. 6 seed from Blue Valley North, Penny Reed. In a battle of freshmen, Besong won out with a 6-3, 6-3 victory and handed Reed just her second loss of the season. 

“That was a really good match,” Besong said. “Penny is an awesome player and that was another mentally challenging match. Tennis is a mental sport, so to be able to play like I did against Penny was definitely a highlight for me.” 

That put her in the semifinals against Olathe North senior Diya Gupta, the No. 2 seed. Gupta had a 2-1 record against Besong earlier this year, but neither player wanted to lose. 

The semifinal match lasted more than 3 hours, before Besong rallied for a 1-6, 6-4 and 6-4 victory over Gupta to advance to the championship match. 

“That match did burn me out a little bit and it was mentally and physically challenging,” Besong said. “However, I knew the coaches and my family were there to support me so I was able to overcome that mental challenge.” 

The challenge became too much in the championship as Besong fell to Free State’s Eli Ward, 6-1 and 6-0 to finish as the state runner-up. She finished her season with a 31-4 record. 

“Eli is a great player,” Smith said. “On a good day, all things being equal, Seraphine can perform better than that, but I think Eli is probably the best player in the state by a wide margin. So to get second place, and I am a man of realistic expectations, that is about as good as I could have expected either of my singles players to do. 

"Seraphine played Diya in three sets at regionals and we won the first set and lost the match, so to be able to completely flip that script, so to come back and win that match was phenomenal. It was a roller coaster. She was locked in after that first set. To be honest, I haven’t coached her much this year because she has been pretty dominant, so to actually get to have some conversations and get to have some strategic decisions together was nice and I couldn’t be prouder of how she performed in that match.” 
 

The Ravens had just two returning players from last season’s state team in senior Heidi Baillos and sophomore Emery Rand, but both played big roles in the Ravens’ repeat. 

Baillos, the No. 5 seed in singles, earned a spot in the semifinals after she knocked off No. 4 seed Madeline Deters of Topeka High on Friday, 7-5 and 6-3. It was also a revenge win of sorts as Deters handed Baillos and 8-1 loss back in September. 

“I had lost to her earlier in the year and it was a loss that I wasn’t too proud of,” Baillos said. “We were close record-wise and that is why I was seeded fifth, but in the end, it turned out to be a good thing.” 

That moved Baillos to the semifinals, where she lost to the eventual state champion in Ward, 6-1 and 6-0. She also faced Gupta for third-place, and despite forcing a third set, lost her final high school match and finished with a record of 23-11. 

“She played phenomenal on Friday and for her to get that three set win over Deters in the quarterfinals was huge for us,” Smith said. “That is part of the reason we were able to be so confident on Saturday and that was a great performance. Eli is a buzz saw and there is no shame losing that match and she played a great match against Diya. Diya just ended up having enough gas left in the tank at the end.  

"Heidi has had a great career. She gets to go down as a two-time state champion for the team and improved her performance at state every year and I couldn’t be more proud how she did.” 
 

On the doubles side, the Ravens got some big points from Rand and her partner Ada Smith. The Ravens’ duo was the No. 5 seed in the tournament and opened with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Washburn Rural’s Alizah Chedzoy and Annie Henderson.  

Rand and Smith then got a big win in the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 4-6 and 6-0 win over Sunflower League champion Syra Honargohar and Erin O’Neal from Shawnee Mission Northwest.  

In the semis, they went on to fall to the eventual state champions in Blue Valley Northwest’s Mayam Wambi and Ella Wang, 6-2 and 6-1, before losing to Shawnee Mission East’s Catherine Beltrame and Isabelle Broce, 6-3 and 6-3 and finished fourth overall. 

It was a year of growth for Rand as she had get used to a new doubles partner in Smith and recover from an injury at the same time. 

“Emery was hurt all summer and the first match they played this season was the team that won state,” coach Smith said. “It was a very rude introduction into being a doubles team together, but they grew and got so much better. You can see from the results in the bracket that doubles was so tight and there was so little separating them. The No. 1’s are 1s for a reason, but 2 through teams that didn’t medal, there wasn’t a lot of separation.  

“For them to break through and get fourth, and beat a team in the quarters that they lost to at league was just huge for them and the team. They shouldn’t be disappointed and very proud of them.” 
 

To be able to win back-to-back state titles and finish with a state medal was more than enough for Rand. 

“The team dynamic is completely different, so to be able to come in here again, with basically almost a completely new team and win is just an amazing feeling,” Rand said. “Finishing fourth this year is just a great step up from last year, especially after having to change partners and also come back from an injury over the summer. That took a lot to get over that, and then reshape our doubles game, so it was great to able to finish fourth like we did.  

“Working with Ada was really great. It is a challenge working with a new partner, but we had great cohesiveness, and everything ended up working out really great in the end. It was hard at the start, but once we got it figured out, we knew we had it.” 

As for what the future holds, it doesn’t appear the Ravens will be going anywhere anytime soon when it comes to the state title race. 
 

“We are losing Heidi and she will be a big loss,” coach Smith said. “I am not involved with all the USTA stuff, so I don’t know what everyone else will be getting, but I feel really good about the crew we have coming back. We should be among one of the top teams again next year. I know everyone is motivated to keep improving."
 

CLASS 6A STATE TENNIS 

At College Boulevard Activity Center 

TEAM SCORES 

Olathe Northwest 38, Lawrence Free State 30, Blue Valley North 25, Blue Valley Northwest 24, Shawnee Mission East 16, Blue Valley West 14, Olathe North 12, Shawnee Mission Northwest 11, Olathe West 10, Topeka 9, Blue Valley 8, Derby 7, Junction City 6, Manhattan 5, Washburn Rural 5, Maize 3, Olathe East 3, Wichita East 1