photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State's Micah Ward twirls his racket between games during the 6A state tennis tournament on Friday, May 15, 2026, in Wichita.

When Eli Ward won the 6A girls tennis singles championship in October, the freshman made sure to let her big brother, Micah, know about it.

Most of the top youth tennis players compete within the United States Tennis Association and often don’t compete with high school teams to free up their schedules for USTA competitions. But Eli decided to go out for the Free State team and went undefeated en route to a singles title. For the next few months, Eli kept goading Micah, a senior, to compete for Free State.

“I wanted him to play so that we could both have this experience,” Eli said. I’m just so happy that he played and got to get this under his belt for his high school career.”

It worked, as Micah said a major motivation for competing with Free State was his sister, and on Saturday, Micah finished his season undefeated with 27 wins and the state singles championship. The championship also meant a pair of siblings won individual state titles within the same year.

“I really wanted to follow in her footsteps and get it done as well,” Micah said. “It’s a big thing for us. Our family is all into tennis, and we just want to support each other. (There was) just a big hug from everybody. They were super happy for me.”

“I’m really happy that we both got to win it for the first time in the same year,” Eli said. “I think that’s a really special moment for us.”

The Wards are a tennis family through and through. Jared and Christy Ward are coaches at the Jayhawk Tennis Center and run the Jayhawk Tennis Academy.

Under their tutelage, the Ward kids have become some of the best high school tennis players in the country. Micah is the No. 63 player in the country in his class and the best in the state of Kansas, according to the Tennis Recruiting Network. Eli is ranked 192nd in her class and is second in the state.

“They get those results because of the effort and the time they put in together,” Free State coach Aaron Clark said. “That’s just kind of a family dynamic there, where they’ve dedicated themselves for tennis, and those are kind of the fruits of all the labor they put in.”

Tennis heavily relies on the club season, and many of the top tennis players in the country choose to compete individually in clubs rather than with high school teams. Micah spent his first three years at Free State competing through the USTA, working his way to becoming a top prospect.

When the Ward siblings are competing on the court, there are a lot of similarities. The two are consistently even-keeled during matches, never letting the highs or the lows affect them. Even when Micah won the first-place match, he simply pumped his fist and went to shake hands.

Time and reps have made them two of the best tennis players in the state. They don’t get fazed, and they have technique and skills that take years to develop and master. For Micah, he says his racket skills are the biggest differentiator between him and others in the state.

What is equally impressive is their mentality. The Wards each played in around 30 matches and didn’t let their mental focus drop. Eli said they’re both cool under pressure and don’t take it to heart if they lose a game or drop a set.

“It takes a lot of just staying locked in for like the entire time,” Micah said. “There’s someone that could be playing well that day that just gets the better of me.”

Micah’s Free State career is over, but his tennis career is far from it. As the top-ranked player in the state, Micah had a lot of interest from colleges when he became eligible to communicate with them. He has now signed with Nebraska, his favorite college sports team.

“They took me on a visit, and I just decided to commit,” Micah said. “I hadn’t thought about (playing in college) at all until like the day it was available for me to start talking to colleges.”

As for Eli, she still has three years left at Free State to potentially compete. Whether or not she’ll play with the school team in the future depends on her schedule in non-KSHSAA tennis.

“I think it would be really fun to come back for the next four years,” Eli said. “I just think it would be just a really good experience, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to come back.”

Eli got Micah to go out for high school tennis by reminding him of her accomplishment, and while Eli might not have sole singles championship bragging rights anymore, that won’t stop the younger Ward from finding ways to hold one over her brother. She still plans on reminding Micah that not only did she do it first, she did it as a freshman.

“It’s going to come up every dinner,” Eli said.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State freshman Eli Ward swings at the ball during the 6A Gardner Edgerton regional tournament at Gardner Edgerton High School on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025, in Gardner.