Wellington Tennis is REGIONAL RUNNER-UP (second to Wichita Trinity) and advancing FIVE players to State: Jensen Lynnes, Lyric Cornejo, Ashlyn Gerten, Kadynce Aufdengarten, and Kami Reichenberger!

On Saturday, October 8, Wellington hosted Regionals at Winfield's T.H. Vaughan Tennis Complex and the team performed very well in what Coach Aufdengarten describes as "one of the toughest regionals in 4A this year."  As a team, Wellington was REGIONAL RUNNER-UP, which marks the second straight year that the team has brought home a regional trophy (last year's team took 1st ).

Coach Aufdengarten's Report:

Singles player Logan Robinson received the #10 seed and pulled off a great win in her first match beating Hamby from Buhler in a three-set match.  Robinson lost the first set but came back and won the second set, and then had the lead in the supertiebreak for the third set and never gave up the lead.  Robinson had lost to Hamby twice this season.  Third time's a charm, I guess. Logan played very well and showed the patience that she needed and had confidence.  That match was huge, otherwise we don't finish second at regionals without that team point.  

Kami Reichenberger received the #5 seed and opened up play with a win over Barkus from El Dorado 6-0, 6-0.  Then Reichenberger lost to Laszlo, an exchange student from Winfield.  That put Reichenberger in an elimination match: win and you're in to State, lose and you're out.  Reichenberger played a very focused match and beat a dangerous freshman player, Heger from Winfield, 6-1, 6-1.  In her final match she lost to Jackson from Pratt, who got upset in the draw earlier as the #3 seed.  Reichenberger finished 6th and will try to improve on her 8th place finish at State last year.

Wellington's doubles team of Ashlyn Gerten and Kadynce Aufdengarten received the #4 seed and won their opening match over Circle's #2 team 6-0,6-0.  In their next match to qualify for State, they beat a very good Circle team, Soto/Thornton, 6-3, 6-2.  Next up was the #1 seed, Buhler's Babcock/Nickel, and the Wellington duo came out ready to play jumping up 3-0 in the first set.  Buhler battled back to win the first set, thoughm 6-4.  The Buhler team then carried the momentum winning the second set pretty easy.  

On the other side of the bracket Jensen Lynnes and Lyric Cornejo received the #2 seed, and just like the other doubles won their first match easily, beating Augusta 6-1, 6-1.  In their second match they beat Norton/Richert from Winfield 6-1, 6-2, which qualified them for State, also.  In their next match they met up with Wichita Trinity's Major/Dunne who finished 3rd at State last season.  We came out very flat against Trinity and couldn't keep them off the net, and they won the first set 6-0.  We talked and started hitting through them instead of lobbing them and it paid off.  Wellington's team won the second set 6-2.  Then in the third set Trinity rebounded and won 6-2.  

This had the two Wellington teams then meeting in the 3rd/4th place match which had Lynnes and Cornejo coming out on top 6-1,6-2.  Always tough playing your teammates in an actual meet, but I was proud of the girls. They all hugged it out at the end of the match and shared some special moments with each other on the court.  

Wellington now takes the same five players to state for two years in a row.  That is pretty cool; these girls have become so close-knit and it is a pretty special group.  This is Lynnes' third year to State and would have been 4 had it not been for a COVID year.  Cornejo, Reichenberger, Gerten, and Aufdengarten have all been two years now.  Also, for Lyric this would have probably been her third year had we not had COVID precautions in place.  

Reichenberger, Lynnes, Cornejo, Aufdengarten, and Gerten advance to the 4A State hosted by Shawnee Mission-Bishop Miege at the Prairie Village-Harmon Park Complex on October 14-15.  Congratulations, ladies!  And congratulations to freshman Logan Robinson, member of the 2022 REGIONAL RUNNER-UP Tennis Team, on her great season!  Many more great things are to come!

STATE LOCATION
Prairie Village-Harmon Park Tennis Complex
7727 Delmar, Prairie Village, 66208

REGIONAL GIRLS TENNIS @ WINFIELD 100822