Kadynce Aufdengarten.

by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — When it came to pre-state tournament buzz, the Wellington girls tennis team probably didn’t have a lot. 

Yes, it won its regional and had three entries going into this weekend’s Class 4A State Tournament in Winfield. But a second-place finish? Well, maybe not. 

Wellington came home as the Class 4A state runner-up champion — its second-highest finish ever and highest since winning the title in 2010. The Crusaders trailed only McPherson in the final team tallies. The Bullpups accumulated 44 points, based on the strength of their two doubles teams, who played one another for the state championship.

The Crusaders tied Topeka Hayden with 25 points but won the tie-breaker because it had three medalists to Hayden’s two. 

In the end, both Crusader doubles teams and its single-player would medal. Jensen Lynnes and Lyric Cornejo finished fourth in doubles. 

Wellington’s dominating Friday performance set up the second-place finish on Saturday. Ashlyn Gerten and Kadynce Aufdengarten would place eighth. And Kami Reichenberger in singles finished eighth as well. The combination of the three gave them enough points to place second (see full team scores and bracket here). 

The following is a look back at everyone’s performance and a short interview with Wellington head coach Brian Aufdengarten:

Lyric Corneo and Jensen Lynnes.

Lynnes/Cornejo

Lynnes, a junior, and Cornejo, a sophomore, came into the tournament at 21-6 and were expected to make some noise. 

They most certainly did. After receiving a first-round bye, Lynnes/Coerneo would beat Shultz/Farris of Parsons 6-4, 7-5.

That set them up for a battle with Frederick/Babcock of Buhler which they won 6-4, 6-2. The 2-0 finish guaranteed them a semifinal berth and top-four finish on Saturday. 

On Saturday morning, the duo met the eventual state champions – a couple of seniors from McPherson, Patty Huerta and Perrin Schneider. This was a good match, and Lynnes/Cornejo held a temporary lead in the second set before succumbing to the Bullpups 6-4, 6-2. 

The Wellington duo lost to Dunne/Majors of Wichita Trinity 6-3, 6-1 for third place. The Hayden duo beat them in the regional championship a week ago. 

Ashlyn Gerten

Gerten/Aufdengarten

Gerten, a junior, and Aufdengarten, a freshman, at 24-7 going in, had a great ride. They opened with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Howard/Cain of Ottawa. They would then beat Bertie/Kippenbrger of Independence in a thrilling tie-breaking set 2-6, 6-3, (1-0) (11). 

They would then lose to Huerta/Schneider, the same duo that beat Lynnes/Cornejo, 6-2, 6-1. 

On the backside, Gerten/Aufdengarten knocked out Norton/Richert of Winfield 9-4, before falling to Buhler’s Frederick/Babcock 9-4 and Sandsturm/Sheetz of Topeka Hayden 9-4. 

Kami Reichenberger

Reichenberger

Reichenberger, a junior, had an exceptional performance at state. She was 14-11 and finished eighth. She opened with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Kiera Fawsom of Iola. Then, in what Aufdengarten called the best Wellington win of the tournament, she upset Taylor Berger of McPherson 7-5, 6-1. 

That set her up with eventual state champion Ainsley Zuleuta of Topeka Hayden who won 6-0, 6-0. 

On the backside, Reichenberger defeated Sarah Jones of Wamego 9-3, before losing to Tegan Stratton of Clay Center 9-2 and Riggs Kuhn of McPherson 9-2. 

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This marked Aufdengarten’s second-highest finish boys or girls in state, and his third state trophy since winning it all in 2010. He brings everyone back next season. 

Here is a short e-mail interview we had with him: 

Sumner Newscow: Was this finish a surprise? 

Aufdengarten: We haven’t had much recognition all year. We got a late start on meets with school being closed and we had so many meets in a short period of time.  We knew we were young but had a decent team. But we just didn’t know we could piece everything together to do this.  I really wanted to place in the top six at state.  We didn’t know we could win regionals either. 

We don’t discuss team points and finishes during the season, but all the girls care about each other and how each other is doing.  Eventually, when everyone was playing so well I looked at where we could be late Friday night and knew we had a chance if we got some opening-round wins on Saturday, and we did.  We still didn’t tell the players though.

SN: Individually did each entree fulfill expectations? 

Aufty: No, they passed my expectations.  We had no returning state medalist and four brand new players, we were hoping at least 1 or some could make it to Saturday and get a medal.  For Jensen and Lyric to get into the top four was amazing also.  All those teams in the top four had state experience and were at state last season.  McPherson had four senior players with lots of experience, and Trinity was at state last year.  We had some players put in some work during the summer and it paid off.

SN: What was the match that surprised you the most? 

Aufty: Kami beating the McPherson girl – Berger in the second round was huge. Also, Ashlyn and Kadynce knocking off Independence set up our huge first day, which got all our girls in the quarterfinals.  Jensen and Lyric had a very tough match in the second round with a very seasoned Parsons team. 

SN: How was the team tiebreaker determined? 

Aufty: By the team with the most medalist.  We had three and Topeka Hayden had 2.  Their #2 doubles won only 1 match and were eliminated.  

SN: This marks your second-highest finish in school history. Would you have expected this going in? 

Aufty: No not really. We didn’t really know what this team could do.  We knew there was talent but just didn’t know how much.  We play a pretty tough schedule and we don’t win a lot of meets during the season and we mix up our lineup some.  I think when we went to Collegiate to an Invitational and finished second overall losing by 1 point for first, we realized we could have a decent ending.  I told all the girls those singles points from Kami were huge. 

I’ve coached for several years now and only had three previous singles placers at state.  Erianne Adams finished fourth twice, one of those years we were state champs. The other year we just missed third and took fourth.  Peyton Adams was 11th, and Abby Lowe was 11th in 2017 when we finished fourth again, 1 point out of 2nd and 3rd place.  With Kami finishing eighth that is my second highest finish and we haven’t typically picked up singles points at state, so that was really big.

The 2021 Kansas State Runner-up Champions – the Wellington Crusaders!

SN: You have everyone returning. What are the expectations for you next year? 

Aufty: To have fun!  No expectations – every year is a new year. You don’t know what teams will be there, if COVID will be gone, or don’t have control on some things.  This year was a stressful year in many ways just because of the pandemic and worrying if you would have players week to week. 

We made it through though and Daphne and I are so proud of this team.  We have a lot of players back and some good players coming up from the middle school.  Some of the girls will have to put in some time this summer.  I think we finally got noticed this weekend when coaches realized we had no seniors playing.

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