McPHERSON, Kan. – With 22 players on the roster in 2026, the 2026 season promised to be one of strong depth for the McPherson girls tennis team. That depth was on full display Thursday as the Bullpups had two full teams competing at their home varsity invitational, taking first and second place overall.
The McPherson Red team took first place with 64 points, while McPherson White was in second with 49. Great Bend finished 3rd with 38 points on the day.
Despite the fact the Red team won the title, it was McKenna Paul from the White squad for McPherson that ruled the day in singles for the Bullpups. The senior went 4-0, beating the number one and number two seeds in the process. McPherson coach Tyler Brown said: “McKenna seemed locked in from the moment she stepped on the court to warm up this morning. She played with confidence all day and earned every bit of that championship.”
Playing for McPherson Red, Mayson Wiens took second place with a 2-1 record, only falling to Paul in an all-McPherson championship match. Paul won 8-5 in the end over Wiens. Singles players for McPherson finished first, second, third, fourth and sixth overall. Audra Sandbo went 3-1 for 3rd, Ava Miller was 2-2 in 4th and Sadie Krug took 6th.
In the doubles bracket, Quinn Liebl and Avery Unruh won the tournament for McPherson Red with a 3-0 record for the day. Dragon Rodriguez and Lleyton Kuhn finished in second with their lone loss coming to Liebl and Unruh in the title match. Piper VanCampen and Anne-Marie Holmes went 2-2 and finished in 4th from the McPherson White team.
“When you can finish 1st and 2nd as teams and continue getting contributions throughout the lineup, that says a lot about the depth of this group”, said Brown.
With two tournament titles already under their belt, the Bullpup varsity tennis team will have 11 days off before their next competition. They will be at the Campus Invitational in Haysville on September 14.
