PRAIRIE VILLAGE — Ella Guernsey claimed a medal while J.J. Smoot and Leah Burnett fell one win shy of hardware for the Chanute Blue Comets at the KSHSAA 4A Girls Tennis State Championships on Friday and Saturday.
Competing in singles, Guernsey placed 11th with a 4-3 record at state.
“She ended her career the right way,” Chanute head coach Jeff Smith said. “She was a three-year varsity player and holds our single-season win record with 34. We had four girls tied for first with 30, so she broke that easily. I’m super proud of her. She only played singles her whole career. That alone is very difficult to do. So I’ve got a lot of admiration and respect for her.”
Guernsey opened her stay at state with a win over Laine Widener of Hesston. In the second round, Guernsey fell in three sets to Ella Daniel of Bishop Miege, 2-6, 6-4, 13-11.
“She was really gutsy in that match,” Smith said. “That’s the girl she upset last year at state. Daniel got third place as a freshman and medaled last year and got fifth this year. Ella (Guernsey) had her on the ropes. It was probably the best singles match of the whole tournament.”
The senior singles star for the Blue Comets responded with back-to-back backside bracket wins over Whitney Wilbur of Circle, 8-4, and Buhler’s Gabriella Gillespie, 8-2, to secure a medal.
“That was something I was super concerned about. We knew Daniel was so good and we wanted to make sure we had gas,” Smith said. “Then we were right in the thick of that match. So her experience is what led her mentality. She started a little slow against Circle and then never got off the gas pedal.”
Guernsey then ate back-toback losses to Collegiate’s Natalia Saad, 8-4, and Zlata Mitinia of Winfield, 8-1, before taking down Independence’s Sarah Veile, 8-3, in the 11th place match.
“That was the last match of her career and it’s always emotional,” Smith said. “You always think about other things. I had to get onto her a little bit early and she finished strong and cruised towards the end. It was a great way to cap it off. She had never won on Day 2 before so she was happy to get that monkey off her back.”
As for Smoot and Burnett in doubles, the No. 22-seeded Blue Comets duo upset 11th-seeded JoJo Henderson and Grace Leopold of Trinity, 6-3, 6-2 in the first round.
“We knew from the jump that we would be excited,” Smith said. “Not very often is a No. 22 seed going to be the favorite. But we were in a brutal regional and we cruised through that one. We played very well.”
The Chanute duo then lost in a tiebreaker to Chapman’s Avery Baer and Carmen Courtois, 6-0, 3-6 (10-5).
“That was a 19-1 team that had played mostly west teams, so they were tough to gauge how good they’d be,” Smith said. “That match went like our whole season went. We can compete with anybody, but we struggled a little to finish the job. That’s what happened in that match. We had them in a good spot, but then made a few too many errors.”
Smoot and Burnett then beat Augusta’s Ellasyn and Edyn Mettling, 8-0, before falling to Independence’s Allie Denney and Sadie York, 8-6.
“We got it to 6-6 and went to deuce five to six times,” Smith said. “Indy pulled through and credit to them. They’ve gotten better all season and they ended up knocking us out of the tournament.”
Collegiate won the team state title with 43 points, McPherson was runner-up with 36 points, with Hayden (19), Independence (18) and Buhler (17) rounding out the top five.
Collegiate’s Hitha Ganganala in singles, as well as Amelia Blackman and Tanya Ramesh in doubles, won their division’s state titles.
Looking ahead
Guernsey and Smoot depart the program next fall but Chanute aims to replicate one of the most successful seasons in the school’s history.
“I’ll tell you what, I know we’re going to be good. I don’t know if we’re going to be a better squad, and that’ll come down to our younger girls getting better over time,” Smith said. “We’ve got girls with a lot of tennis experience. We’ve got a huge junior class that will be seniors. The summer will tell the story there.”
