SALINA — History was made Saturday afternoon as the Ellsworth girls’ varsity tennis team won its first state tennis championship in the program’s history at the Salina Tennis Center.

The Bearcats first won the team title at the regional tournament in Lyons Oct. 10-11, and qualified all six players for the state tournament, which was essential for the team win at state.

“The key for us winning the state title was the depth of our team. We visited at practice on Tuesday that it was going to take all six of the girls doing their jobs to accomplish our goal, and that we needed to help each other every day at practice and then carry that over to the State Tournament on Friday and Saturday,” head coach Eric Anderson said. “This was a total team effort.”

The team took the top spot with 44 points. They were followed by Conway Springs in second with 36 points and Wichita Classical in third with 23.

“This is the first state tennis championship for the women’s tennis program in school history,” Anderson said. “We were third in 2020, fourth in 2023 and second in 2024.”

The winning team consisted of juniors Karli Haase and Hannah Vague playing singles, and senior Inarie Rippert and junior Reygan Coonrod and senior Felis De La Cruz sophomore Makenna Anderson playing doubles.

After a day of difficult matches at state Friday, the Ellsworth team found themselves in a good place to begin the day on Saturday.

“We knew going into day two that we were in the driver’s seat with all four of our entries still playing. We visited before play started on Saturday morning about the fact that one of the state plaques was going back to Ellsworth, and we need to continue to win matches and not settle for second or third place,” Anderson said.

The players were buoyed up throughout the meet with the herd of Ellsworth fans that flocked to the venue to cheer them on. Often, all four Ellsworth entries competed simultaneously on separate courts, each with fan support.

“Our crowd was amazing! It was nice that the 3-2-1A State Tennis Tournament was so close to home so that our community could come out to support the girls,” Anderson said. “The girls definitely loved playing in front of all of the people that were in attendance and cheering for them. For everyone that came out to support the girls this season, I would like to give you a big ‘Thank you!’ from the bottom of my heart!”