Even though they weren't scheduled to compete, Blair High School tennis seniors Shelby Kain and Quinn Avila traveled to Lincoln in support of their teammates Thursday morning.
They watched as Bears Jenna Murch-Shafer and Jazmyne Roach combined forces during the Waverly Invite for a team-best fifth-place finish at No. 2 doubles. The duo went 2-2 overall in their final competition before the NSAA Class B State Championships, which begin this Thursday back in Lincoln at the Woods Tennis Center.
When asked what Murch-Shafer and Jazmyne Roach were doing well midway through the Vikings' tourney, Avila said, “Their communication and switching.”
The BHS standouts topped Waverly and Lincoln Christian pairings by identical 8-4 scores, according to results posted to nssahome.org. The two-person team is 6-12 overall.
Avila said Murch-Shafer's strength is shot placement.
“And Jazmyne's is definitely power,” the senior said. “She's pretty good at that.”
The duo won a state match in 2022 and will compete there again Thursday.
Blair's No. 1 doubles team, meanwhile, went 1-3 during the Waverly Invite to finish seventh. Seniors Mallory Dreher and Abi Rothlisberger topped the Beatrice team of Sonia Romero Benavides and Tayla deKoning 9-8 (7-2).
“They're really good at just keeping the play going,” Avila said of her classmates. “Like, not hitting it too hard. Hitting it just soft enough to keep it in the rally.”
Kain added her own observations of Dreher and Rothlisberger's play, too.
“They move as a team, not just two individual people on a court,” she said. “I think that's really impressive.”
The Bears' singles players, meanwhile, combined to go 0-8 during the Waverly Invite. Even so, Kain was complimentary of the play shown by Alexandra Nilges and Abi Lundberg in defeat.
“Just seeing from the beginning to where they are now, they've both improved dramatically whether it was serves, strength of hit or accuracy,” she said. “It's been awesome to watch them as they grow as singles players.”
Nilges will return to state competition back in Lincoln after picking up a win during last year's Class B tourney.
“She knows how to control the game,” Kain said. “And she knows how to do what she wants to do and not follow the other person's, like, lead.”
Though Avila and Kain didn't play themselves during BHS' regular season finale, Kain — a Midland University wrestling recruit — said it was time well spent watching her Bears.
“I love being with this team,” she explained. “It's such a good group of girls and we have such positive energy toward each other.”
