On October 16 and 17, the annual State Tennis Tournament was held at Woods Tennis Center in Lincoln.
With state championships in 2020 and 2021, the program has stood out as one of the best in the state. The team carried the consistent success into this year as well, earning second place at the state meet.
This year the team consisted of 1 singles Connor Chen ‘26, 2 singles Peter Killeen ‘25, 1 doubles Patrick Killeen ‘27 and Noah Stricklett ‘26, and 2 doubles Sam Beninato ‘25 and Owen Stricklett ‘24.
Peter Killeen went into the tournament as the fifth seed, reflecting his success throughout the season. He got eighth place after facing struggles with cramping throughout his matches.
“I was cramping a lot, so I had to pull out of the tournament,” Peter said. Before he had to withdraw, he beat one of his hardest opponent from Elkhorn North, that ended in a tiebreaker with Peter winning 9-7. This marked a big victory for the Knights.
Connor Chen entered the tournament knowing he would have to face the hardest opponents in the state.
“I was very excited and confident for my matches,” Chen said. Placing fifth while being the eighth seed is not an easy accomplishment. While Chen hoped to make it further into the tournament, he played the one seed from Crete in the quarterfinals to which he lost.
“I feel good with how I played. I am pretty happy with how I placed, but I wish I could’ve won,” Chen said.
The new freshman/sophomore team of Patrick Killeen and Noah Stricklett dominated the state tournament. As the second seed for one doubles, they knew they had a chance to win it all.
“Going in [to state] I felt like we were the underdogs and had less match experience as the other teams,” Patrick said. With their hardest match being Elkhorn North, they were stressed with a first match score of 4-6. In the second and third match, Patrick and Noah knew they had to dial in, and they won 6-3 and 6-4 in a close match.
While they faced some of the best doubles teams in the state, the two came out on top and achieved first place.
During the final match for the state title against Grand Island Central Catholic, Patrick and Noah relied on the crowd for their energy and support. Not only playing for the crowd, the match meant more to the team as well.
“I wanted to make sure I put in enough [points] for the team to win state, especially for my brother’s senior year,” Noah said. Going up in the first set, it made it easier to manage the nerves. After losing the second set 6-3, the tensions rose and they knew they would have to play well to get the championship.
Sam Beninato and Owen Stricklett went into state as the one seed. They had great accomplishments in their season. earning their spot as the best seed. Although the duo had a hard time early on in the tournament, they still earned points for the team.
“We finished sixth after a rough first day,” Beninato said. Going into state, they were a little nervous as it was their first time as doubles partners competing at that high of a level. Despite losing Owen as a top six player, they hope for a state championship next year.
The tennis team had amazing success on the court this year. Winning most duels and accomplishing second at the state meet with a younger team marks the tennis program as one to fear in the future.
