Free State's Ali Dodd watches the ball as she makes a forehand return during her number one doubles match Tuesday afternoon at FSHS. The Firebirds faced off against Lawrence High in a cross town dual tennis match.

Free State High senior Rachel Walters has played in only two tennis meets with her doubles partner, junior Andrea Chen. It didn’t look that way on Tuesday.

Walters and Chen won every game at No. 2 doubles, and Walters continued the dominance with a shutout win at No. 4 singles to help the Firebirds to a 7-2 victory in the City Showdown dual at FSHS.

The dual victory raised the Firebirds all-time record against their crosstown rivals to 17-2.

“Once we started winning, it was just like, ‘Well, let’s not lose any (games),'” Walters said after she combined for an 8-0 doubles win. “Me and Andrea just started off well. We just kept it going. We just communicated well.”

Walters, who took 12th at state in doubles last year, said it was an “easy transition” to playing with Chen because they’ve practiced with each other over the past few seasons.

Chen added an 8-4 victory at No. 5 singles.

“We both have good serves,” said Walters, who has a 4-1 record with Chen this year. “We both have good groundstrokes and everything. We’re just a good match together and we can communicate well.”

FSHS senior Caitlin Dodd and her sister, sophomore Ali Dodd, combined for wins at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively. The two sisters also earned an 8-2 victory at No. 1 doubles against Lawrence’s Betsy Smoot and Natalie Cote.

“I think we had our head in the right place in the beginning — really intense,” Smoot said. “I know I definitely lost my intensity throughout (the match). We’re all just preparing and focusing to get better for league and regionals and state because that’s when it really matters.”

At No. 3 singles, Free State freshman Kate Piper wanted to get revenge for a loss against Lawrence in an early season quadrangular. She won in an 8-0 sweep.

“I was real excited,” Piper said. “I wasn’t really confident before because it was my first match against (LHS). But I was really confident (today).”

Piper only started playing tennis last fall. She took lessons at the Jayhawk Tennis Center and participated in some camps.

“I guess some people got it,” FSHS coach Keith Pipkin said of Piper. “I think she’s one that she just has a knack for the game. I think she tried some other sports and sometimes it just fits. Tennis seems to be her sport right now.”

The Lions earned their only wins with a No. 3 doubles victory by Payton Smith and Erin Ventura and in No. 6 singles when Katie Long beat Free State’s Carter Stacey in a tiebreaker, 8-7 (2).

LHS coach Chris Marshall is not a fan of the dual format — “I don’t know why we still play it, to be honest,” he said — because it’s not the format used for the postseason.

“In the dual, we are out of our element,” Marshall said. “We’ve got four girls playing matches that they’re not used to playing. I would take some of the blame here because we’re trying to figure out — because no one plays singles — who should be playing singles at the No. 1 and No. 2, and all that.”

But the City Showdown dual has extra meaning for the Firebirds, especially with all of their success throughout the years.

“They do take a lot of pride in this match,” Pipkin said. “They’ve been talking about it for a while, especially the seniors. I don’t think the freshmen quite know, but the seniors and juniors, yeah, they’re definitely talking about it.”

Both schools will compete in the Sunflower League Meet at 8 a.m. Thursday at Harmon Park in Prairie Village.