photo by: Matt Tait

Free State sophomore Kinley VanPelt poses at the FSHS tennis courts with her Class 6A state championship medal and the racket she used to win it last weekend in Wichita.

With an aunt who was a four-time state champion at Osborne High in the north-central portion of the state and a sister who plays college tennis at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, Free State sophomore Kinley VanPelt knew she had to do something special to keep up with the family legacy.

So that’s exactly what she did.

Competing as the top seed at the Class 6A state tournament over the weekend, VanPelt completed her undefeated season by winning four matches at state to bring home the 6A singles title.

The four wins moved her record to 29-0 for the season and, more incredible than that, VanPelt went the entire way without losing a single set. That included the four matches at state, which she won by the combined score of 48-13.

“The results she got this season, culminating with the state title, are connected to her dedication to the sport outside of high school tennis,” Free State coach Aaron Clark said. “Her drive to get better and willingness to spend hours on the court practicing, drilling and traveling across the country led her to the results she saw at the state tournament.”

All of it was part of a bigger picture that first started being painted at birth.

“I pretty much just grew up around the tennis court,” VanPelt said. “In my hospital picture after I was born I was wearing a tennis outfit.”

Her father’s passion for the game was a big reason for that. Vance VanPelt was the head coach at Hutchinson High when VanPelt was born, and he continued to work as a tennis pro and give lessons after the family moved to Lawrence.

The game grabbed VanPelt long before she arrived at Free State, though. Her earliest memories of tennis were of late-night rallies with her father when she was as young as 3 or 4.

The more she played and practiced, the more she fell in the love with the game. At first, it was her favorite pastime because it was a sweet way to spend time with her father. Eventually, after traveling to play in tournaments across the country and realizing she was getting pretty good, VanPelt became even more enamored with tennis because of everything it provided her. Tough competition. A reason to push herself. The mental challenge. And so much more.

“Because of tennis, I have friends in every single state and even other countries,” she said.

VanPelt became just the fifth FSHS girls tennis player to win a state title and the first since 2002.

Her 2022 state title was extra special because of the injury that kept her out of the high school tennis season during her freshman year. After suffering a hip flexor injury to her left side just before the start of the 2021 season, VanPelt was not cleared to play until just before the league meet. Although she wanted to come back, and had approval to do so, the timing did not quite work out and she sat out the entire season.

It wasn’t a total loss, though. VanPelt enjoyed her freshman year as a Firebird so much that she changed her plan of being homeschooled as a sophomore to go back for more.

“Going into the high school season, I just remember thinking big picture,” she said. “I wasn’t even thinking, ‘Oh, I want to go win state.’ I just wanted to be a part of the team and have fun because it was all new to me. My team and coaches were so supportive of me the whole season and they made this experience so special, especially our other singles player, Maya (Lee).”

Those two sharpened each other’s skills every day at practice this season. And it paid off with VanPelt’s state title and Lee’s seventh-place finish, both of which helped Free State bring home fourth place in the final team standings.

After rolling through the first three matches at state, VanPelt found herself in a battle in the state title match against Blue Valley Northwest senior Emily Chiasson.

Chiasson went up 2-0 in the first set but VanPelt responded quickly to go up 3-2. Down 4-3, she responded again to take a 5-4 lead before winning the match 6-4.

“Winning that first set gave me some momentum for the second set,” said Van Pelt, who won the second set, 6-1, to take the match.

Although the score indicates an easy second-set victory, it actually was anything but that. VanPelt said the first game took roughly 20 minutes and the third game 27 minutes. She never let the pressure get to her, though.

“In my head, I was just excited,” she said. “I mean, it was the state title match. I think I had more nerves going into my semifinal match than I did in the finals because I just wanted to get there so bad.”

Once there, VanPelt made it count and as she let out one last yell of “Come on!” after winning match point, she quickly started to digest what was happening around her.

Her first look was toward her father, who was just getting up out of his chair when she caught a peek. At the time, she was still locked in. Then, as she walked to her bag for the final time this season, she saw her coach’s reaction and that’s when the joy took over.

“I saw Clark aggressively clapping his hands behind the fence and I was just smiling so big,” VanPelt said. “It was awesome.”