Free State's Jack Kelsey returns a serve while competing against Olathe Northwest's Tolulemi Gbile on Thursday, April 27, 2017 at the University of Kansas tennis facility at Rock Chalk Park.

As the deficit grew for the Free State doubles team of Erik Czapinski and Sawyer Nickel, so did their frustration. With the championship match of the Sunflower League Tournament slowly slipping away, Czapinski received an important reminder from his grandmother.

‘Deep breath,’ she hollered from the crowd.

“I’m like, ‘She’s right, grammy’s right,'” Czapinski said. “If your head goes, your partners’ head goes too. If that happens, you’re going to lose.”

The Firebirds regained their composure, and rattled off five consecutive games to take the doubles championship, 9-7, over Matt Schuetz and Cem Spicer, of Shawnee Mission East, Thursday at Rock Chalk Park. Free State placed second as a team with 30 points, trailing only SM East, who placed first with 40.

“The way they started playing today, they could have beaten anybody out there it felt like,” Free State coach Michael Trujillo said.

Thursday was only the second time all season Czapinski and Nickel played doubles together. In fact, Czapinski revealed he and Nickel are big rivals in singles, saying “it’s insanity how competitive we are.”

“I think he might be mad because I keep spanking him,” Nickel said with a smile. “That might be the reason why.”

Despite their singles rivalry, both players admitted their five years of training together and playing against each other paid dividends on Thursday, as they had the movement and communication of a veteran doubles team.

But Czapinksi said they both have the same weakness, and it almost got the best of them: their ability to stay composed on the tennis court. Down 7-4 in the championship match, Nickel credited Trujillo for putting them in the right mindset to turn the match around.

The Firebirds dominated the net in their previous three matches, and in the 12th game of the championship match they finally imposed their will in that area, which Nickel said was their game plan all along. As they continued to rattle off games, they could sense the frustration growing on the other side of the net, and knew it was time to pounce.

“Usually when you’re playing tennis, when you sense the other person is losing their cool, you pounce on that,” Czapinski said.

The Firebirds’ No. 2 doubles team of Ian Pultz-Earle and Cooper Rasmussen won three of their four matches to place fifth. Trey Melvin placed 10th in singles, while Jack Kelsey won two of his four singles matches.

“We decided to go strong in doubles for this tournament, which is a changeup from what we’ve done for the bulk of the season,” Trujillo said. “We asked a lot of those singles players, they stepped up big when they needed to.”

Lawrence High's Cooper Wright backhands a return while competing against Leavenworth's Shawn Hammell on Thursday, April 27, 2017 at the University of Kansas tennis facility at Rock Chalk Park.

Lawrence High’s number one doubles team of Sam Allen and Kanak Masten won four of their six matches and placed 10th, while Brendan Connor won five of his six matches in singles to place ninth. Connor beat Free State’s Kelsey and Melvin, who both had beaten him earlier in the season.

His result was no surprise to Lawrence coach Chris Marshall, who said Connor was already at Rock Chalk Park taking a lesson and preparing for the tournament at 6 a.m. The Lions placed eighth as a team, and Marshall is pleased with the direction they’re heading.

“We have improved and gotten better almost every week,” Marshall said. “We’re heading in the right direction. It’s just a matter of the mountains we have to climb.”

Sunflower League Tournament

Thursday at Rock Chalk Park

Team scores: Shawnee Mission East 42, Free State 30, Olathe North 27, Olathe Northwest 23, Shawnee Mission South 19, Olathe East 15, Shawnee Mission West 15, Olathe South 12, Lawrence 12, Shawnee Mission Northwest 10, Leavenworth 1, Shawnee Mission North 1.

SINGLES:

Cooper Wright, LHS: def. Shawn Hammell, LV, 9-1; lost to Manus Madhira, ON, 9-0; def. Tolulemi Gbile, ONW, 9-2; lost to Trey Melvin, FS, 9-3.

Brendon Connor, LHS (9th place): def. David Rope, SMS 9-5; lost to Carson Fitzgerald, OE, 9-3; def. Ivan Rodriquez, SMN, def. Ryan McGaw, SMNW, 9-6; def. Jack Kelsey, FS, 9-1; def. Trey Melvin, FS, 9-5.

Trey Melvin, FS (10th place) def. Jacob Kaiser, SMW, 9-1; def. by Jack Louiselle, SME, 9-0; def. Cheney Dessaso, LV, 9-2; def. Cooper Wright, LHS, 9-3; def. Levi Van Hoecke, SMNW, 9-7; lost to Brendon Connor, LHS, 9-5.

Jack Kelsey, FS: def. Tolulemi Gbile, ONW, 9-3; lost to Jacob Keller, OS, 9-8 (4); def. Shawn Hammell, LV, 9-0; def. Lleyton Fosha, OS, 9-6; lost to Brendon Connor, FS, 9-1.

DOUBLES

Allen/Masten, LHS (10th place): def. Bradley/Song, LV, 9-0; lost to Boschma/Firnhaber, ONW, 9-5; def. Casmus/Richter, LV, 9-1; def Teague/Peak, SMW, 9-3, def. Tomasic/Darpel, SMNW, 9-5, lost to Marsee/Stone, OE, 9-4.

Herrin/Spears, LHS: lost to Mar Darpel/Gao, SMNW 9-2; lost to Zeller/Gatti, SMS, 9-8 (4); def. Mendez/Berry, SMN, 9-4.

Nickel/Czapinski, FS (1st place): def. Zeller/Gatti, SMS, 9-1; def. Atzenweiller/Nielson, ON, 9-1; def. Searl/Iba, SMS, 9-6; def. Schuetz/Spicer, SME, 9-7.

Pultz-Earle/Rasmussen, FS (5th place): def. Weldon/Hinman, OS, 9-0; lost to Searl/Iba, SMS, 9-3; def. Atzenweiller/Nielson, ON, 9-1; def. Tilton/Leatherwood, SME, 9-4.