Olathe ? Free State High senior Caitlin Dodd and sophomore Ali Dodd never panicked at the Class 6A state tournament when they fell behind on the scoreboard. In some ways, it just made them play better.

The Dodd sisters finished in 11th place at state on Saturday at the College Boulevard Activity Center, fighting back from two deficits in their final match.

Free State’s top doubles team trailed, 7-6, after Blue Valley’s Lizzy Meizenbach and Mallory Novicoff broke a serve. But the Firebirds forced three deuce points in the next game, helped by strong forehand winners by Caitlin Dodd, before winning on a double fault.

The Firebirds won the next two games to win the match, fighting back from a 40-15 deficit in the final game to avoid a tiebreaker.

“They’ve been giving me … I’m not going to say heart attacks all day long or all tournament long, but they’ve been consistently coming back and winning and never giving up,” FSHS coach Keith Pipkin said. “It’s kind of reminiscent of the Royals here.”

It was the third trip to state for Caitlin Dodd and the first time she has earned a medal. After the sisters won their final match, they hugged, and Caitlin put her arm around Ali’s shoulders before they lined up for pictures and fist-bumped their coach.

“It’s so awesome that we got to win our last match together,” Caitlin Dodd said. “That’s always exciting. It was a tough match, but we pulled through it.”

The Dodd sisters nearly pulled off a huge comeback in their previous match. Against Blue Valley West’s Frankie Skinner and Reagan Sherron, the Firebirds trailed 7-3 and won five of the next six games to force a tiebreaker.

Skinner and Sherron won the tiebreaker, 7-5, but the Dodds were proud of their strong finish.

“The biggest thing for us is just keeping our energy up, because I felt like, our second match, we got a little down our ourselves,” Caitlin Dodd said. “But we were down 3-7, and then we came back and brought it to a tiebreaker. We just had really good energy. We were communicating really well.”

The Dodd sisters ended the season with a 26-11 record and a victory to end their high school career as doubles partners.

“I’m obviously going to miss her,” Caitlin Dodd said through tears of her younger sister. “It’s starting to hit me. It was just really awesome to play with her.”

Ali Dodd added: “It’s been like the best time ever. I loved the whole thing.”

Class 6A state tournament

Saturday at College Boulevard

Activity Center in Olathe

Day 2 results

Team scores: Blue Valley North 59, SM East 46, SM West 30, Blue Valley 29, BV West 15, Washburn Rural 15, BV Northwest 10, Olathe North 8, Derby 8, Free State 7, SM Northwest 7, Manhattan 6, Olathe South 6, Campus 4, Hutchinson 2, Garden City 2, Lawrence 1.

Free State results: Caitlin Dodd/Ali Dodd, FS (11th place), lost to Manisha Ravi/Elizabeth Trupp, BVNW, 9-3; lost to Frankie Skinner/Reagan Sherron, BVW, 9-8 (5); def. Lizzy Meizenbach/Mallory Novicoff, BV, 9-7.