Free State's Carly Fish hits during the No. 3 doubles match. She and partner Jessica Wuthrich beat the Lions' Lynn Chen and Jordan Payne, 8-3. Free State won the match, 6-3, Monday at FSHS.

Lawrence High's Marcy Vickers, in photo at left, returns a volley in her No. 1 doubles match against Free State High. Vickers and partner Elizabeth Simons defeated the FSHS doubles team of Mackenzie Lown and Lauren Thames, 8-2.

Close calls and tiebreakers reigned supreme Monday at Free State High’s dual tennis match with Lawrence High.

Just ask the Lions’ top singles player, Xin Liu.

After Liu and doubles partner Yoshika Crider edged the Firebirds’ Sierra Amon and May Simpson, 8-7 (7-2), she had to battle Free State’s Jessica Wuthrich.

That match, too, went to a tiebreaker, which Wuthrich won, 8-7 (7-4).

The host Firebirds won the event – 6-3 – by claiming five of the six singles matches and one of three doubles matches.

Free State’s Mackenzie Lown also won a close one against the Lions’ Yoshika Crider, 8-7 (8-6). And the lone singles victory for LHS came in a tiebreaker when Marcy Vickers beat May Simpson, 8-7 (7-2).

“This is one of the closest head-to-head duals I can remember having,” Free State coach Jon Renberger said. “That’s a good thing to build on.”

LHS coach Steve Hudson saw the good and the bad of losing by a lopsided overall score despite nine evenly-played matches.

“The overwhelming feeling is disappointment because we had so many chances and tiebreakers, and it was a razor-thin margin between the teams,” he said. “But that’s also the positive because we played a lot closer than we did last year, and the matches we played, I felt like, were dead-even with them.”

Liu said the Lions were able to battle because the dual was important to them.

“It kind of helped that all of us were really motivated and really looking forward to this meet,” she said.

Bounding with energy, Liu, when given the option of resting a few minutes after completing the longest doubles match of the day, instead ran back onto the court to warm up with her Firebirds opponent.

She said she didn’t want to sit and get cold: “I play better when I’m on my toes.”

The showdown between the schools’ top singles performers went back and forth. Wuthrich won the first two games, then Liu got two back.

But Wuthrich appeared to be in control after taking five of the next six games and led, 7-3. That’s when an alarm went off in Liu’s head.

“I was trying to wake up because I felt like I was sleeping,” Liu said of her play during Wuthrich’s hot streak.

During a change-over while Liu was down, 7-4, Hudson told her he expected her to win. And she did just that by waking up and winning the next three games to force the tiebreaker.

Liu did so with the added pressure of knowing she needed to win. Hudson also told her that LHS needed her and two of her teammates to pull off singles wins in order for the Lions to win the dual.

Playing with momentum, Liu scored the first two tiebreak points before falling to Wuthrich.

Renberger said he was impressed with Liu’s competitiveness.

“She ran down most of those balls that a lot of other girls Jesse has played have not been able to,” he said.

The Firebirds’ coach said he was happy with the victory, but said most of the matches featured some “sloppy tennis,” possibly because of gusts of wind throughout the afternoon.

The “psychological pressure of a big rivalry match,” Renberger said, also might have played a factor.

“Maybe nerves and inexperience had a little bit more to do with it,” he said.