Sterling High School senior Chelsie Brown captured the singles championship at the Kansas Class 3-1A regional at Lyons with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Ellsworth’s Karlie Haase and qualified for state.
Brown (29-0 this season, 116-14 during her career) won the state title with a 36-0 record in 2024, placed seventh at state in 2023 as a sophomore with a 35-9 record and qualified for state as a freshman in 2022 and finished with a 16-5 record. She has won 65 consecutive matches.
Sterling’s Jaiden Jaeger and Danika Zimmerman also qualified for state by reaching the doubles semifinals. They placed second, losing to Ellsworth’s Reygan Coonrod and Inarie Rippert 6-2, 6-1 in the championship. Jaeger and Zimmerman won their semifinal match.
Sterling’s Natalie Williams, Lyons’ Isabel Gonzalez and Hutchinson Trinity’s Therese Little lost in the second round of singles. Lyons’ Nevaeh Becker lost in the first round of singles.
Lyons’ Ava Almanza and Jazmin Contreras and Trinity’s Lucy Rodriguez and Evelyn Salazar lost in the second round of doubles.
Ellsworth won the regional title with 18 points and qualified six players for state (two singles and two doubles). Sterling placed second with 13 points, followed by Central Plains with 10 and Larned 9. Lyons and Hutchinson Trinity did not score any team points.
The top six singles players and top six doubles teams qualified for the Class 3-1A state tournament Oct. 17-18 at the Salina Tennis Center on the Kansas Wesleyan University campus.
