Four state championship trophies sat heavy and lifeless on a side table while seniors Bryson Langford and Greta Stechshulte shared their final hug as official Lancer teammates at their end-of-season banquet.
The only pair in Kansas history to win four state doubles titles sat in the very front row of the packed Meadowbrook banquet room, having earned their spot with an impressive 95-0 undefeated record against Kansas teams.
The dinner was their chance to celebrate 110 out of 114 doubles matches won overall and bask in their newfound, historical glory. Instead, Bryson and Greta were mesmerized by snapshots of themselves eating Slim Jims and Andy’s ice cream on past road trips to tournaments.
A photo slideshow recapping their seasons played on-screen.
They stifled laughs at images of their goofy poses in the team van. “Awww”-ed at their dorky grins in a throwback of their first doubles win as nine-year-olds. Shared knowing smiles at pictures of them post-win over their rivals.
“It made me remember a lot of the things I’ve experienced with Bryson,” Greta said. “Tennis is really important to me, but I try not to cry in front of people.”
Only the players in the front row could notice Greta’s eyes, that she’d managed to keep dry all season, water as Bryson said she “meant so much” to her during her senior speech.
Behind the unbeatable state champs stands their full story of success and lesser-known — but equally important — moments.
Sept. 4, 2019 | Pembroke Hill Dual Then-freshman Greta’s first high school tennis singles opponent — her older sister’s best friend — laughed when Greta hit another winner to clinch match point. There was something comedic about getting crushed by someone four years younger wearing an unofficial plain white tank top. Though her actual uniform was still coming in the mail, Greta won 8-0.
She got a rush from the win, but singles matches were lonely. Plus, she and Bryson had played club tennis doubles tournaments on and off the past seven years — placing first at a Nebraska doubles tournament right before the season. East tennis coach Andrew Gibbs knew a good pair when he saw one. So soon enough, Greta and Bryson played less singles and more doubles.
Sept. 11, 2019 | Pembroke Hill Tournament After clutching all five doubles matches of their season so far, Rock Bridge from Missouri showed Bryson and Greta their first loss.
Both felt they could’ve won. They should’ve won. Except their court positioning wasn’t in sync and their opponents out-rallied them.
But their disappointment was quelled when Bryson’s crush showed up to watch their following match, motivating Bryson to hit the ball twice as hard as normal, according to Greta. Her “normal” speed was already enough to make Bryson infamous at her off-season club for her whiplash balls. Now, she was hitting it f-a-s-t. Balls whizzed past the other team before they could touch them and smacked the wind screens, some embedding into the fence.
“Bryson had never hit the ball that hard before,” Greta said.
Greta decided that Bryson’s love interests should come watch their matches more often.
Oct. 3, 2019 | Sunflower League Greta and Bryson’s opponent and teammate Quinci Cartmell needed to pee. Bad. It was the first thing she said on court of the Sunflower League semifinals. Still, she wanted to wait until after the match — she assumed it’d be over soon.
Then, mid-match, Quinci’s partner floated a high ball right into Bryson’s reach at the net — a rookie mistake when facing the dominant duo. Bryson’s eyes lit up as she swung with all her body weight for a direct hit on Quinci’s back (which was turned around in panic).
“I think I just peed,” Quinci said.
Winning the biggest tournament of the regular season prompted nothing more than another signature high five for the duo — they’ve never been the gushing, public celebration type.
Oct. 19, 2019 | State Tournament Coach Gibbs only worried about one team at state — East’s long-time rivals, the Blue Valley North Mustangs. A few minutes away from Topeka, Gibbs eased on the brakes of the team van as he passed an elegant, newly-built hotel with BVN’s van — decked out with navy blue window markers — parked in front. Bryson paused on her math homework to glance at Greta, who was squashed next to her between coolers and tennis gear. Her wide eyes asked: Are we really staying at the same hotel as the Mustangs?
But Gibbs kept driving, past the decked-out van, past the renovated hotel and straight to the next eyebrow-raising inn with a weed-infested, cracked parking lot and paint-chipped exterior.
Bryson slept for only four hours between the scratchy covers and mysterious odor in her and Greta’s room. The soon-to-be state champion awoke by rolling out of bed onto the hard floor, startled by “Defying Gravity” blasting from Greta’s alarm — a ruder awakening than Bryson’s soothing instrumentals.
After losing only six games out of 42 in a total of three matches, the duo made it to the finals against BVN. The state title was stirringly close. Greta’s grandma was so excited that she hobbled onto center court as the match began, only for a red-faced Greta to shoo her off. Other teams’ coaches stopped watching their own players to see the freshman wonders take a shot at the state title, joining parents and teammates crowding the fence around the court.
“I like playing in front of people, but we could sense the tension,” Bryson said. “It was probably the biggest crowd we’ve ever played in front of.”
Game score: 2-1. Then 3-2. Then 5-4. On serve. They barely won the first set, 6-4.
One of their opponents, a lefty, had a wicked cross-court forehand. Bryson and Greta struggled to knock her off balance or push her far enough off the baseline, barely stringing together enough games to earn a matchpoint.
Jelly legs and shaking hands aside, Bryson hit a pounding return — forcing their opponents to miss. For the first time all season, she sprinted and nearly tackled Greta with a monster hug. Greta’s arms stayed glued to her sides, shocked by the affectionate display more than the win.
With a 6-4, 6-4 victory and their only hug all season, Bryson and Greta secured their first state title to cheers that Greta would later call “electric.”
Oct. 17, 2020 | State Tournament It had been an undefeated season so far for then-sophomores Greta and Bryson.
Enter then-freshmen and East doubles team Abigail Long and Katie Schmidt.
Bryson and Greta’s newest competition faced them in the finals of the state tournament while 30-mph winds sporadically whipped the ball around the court.
Wind — what some tennis coaches call the ultimate equalizer. For unfavored teams, it can be a chance to overtake shaken opponents. Though Greta and Bryson had beaten their teammates in the Sunflower League finals earlier that season and weekly at practice, gusts had already caused upsets in the singles draw of the state tournament that day. Nothing felt guaranteed.
Greta and Bryson exchanged knowing glances. It’d be an ugly match. In hindsight, they can’t recall a single clean point without at least one shanked ball shooting off in an unplanned direction. All four players suffered from the wind, but the match still wasn’t close.
A 6-0, 6-0 win for Greta and Bryson brought less cheers than last year — they weren’t the baby underdogs anymore.
Sept. 15, 2021 | Harmon Park Quad Then-juniors Greta and Bryson’s friends were shocked to hear that they’d lost a match that night.
Barstow’s dynamic sister doubles team kept the game close on serve at first. Greta and Bryson had played them in outside tournaments and knew the match would be a battle beforehand, but the East team had home-field advantage at Harmon Park. Plus, Bryson and Greta were always dead set on winning. Nothing could sway their focus.
That is, until blood-curdling screams rang throughout the park. A car had just hit a brown dog on the street adjacent to the courts. Greta’s dad — a surgeon — ran from the courts to help, but it was too late.
“After we started playing again, we couldn’t hit a ball the same while thinking about the screams and dog that had literally just gotten run over,” Bryson said.
They lost 10-6 in a tiebreaker.
Sept. 17, 2022 | St. Joseph’s Academy Don’t turn away. Don’t back up. I can hit it back, senior Bryson thought.
She knew her coaches would tell her to hold her ground against St. Joseph’s top doubles team. So, despite her instinct to retreat, she crouched in the middle of the service box and watched her opponent reel her racquet back for an overhead smash.
Spoiler: Bryson could, in fact, not hit it back.
Instead, the over 80 mph ball careened directly into Bryson’s chest, bowling her onto the ground where she laid with the wind knocked out of her for at least 30 seconds.
“I thought my doubles partner had died,” Greta said.
As Greta helped her partner up, Bryson’s mom whispered to Greta’s that the St. Joseph girls had “no idea what they’d just unleashed.” They’d seen Greta and Bryson get revenge before — a side quest on the way to winning.
Bryson pegged the girl who hit her with a punching volley and Greta got the other one with a fuzzy yellow bullet before winning the match 6-3, 6-0.
“If someone goes after my partner, I’m not going to necessarily avoid hitting them back,” Greta said.
Sept. 29, 2022 | Sunflower League Greta and Bryson were happy. Yes, they’d just won their match against Lawrence Free State 8-1 — but more importantly, they’d gotten to use a fancy score-recording remote that displayed their game progress on the official scoreboard for the crowd for the second time ever.
As they geeked out over punching their own score into the device, Gibbs walked on court and took the pair’s used balls. They shot each other confused looks.
“I’m going to keep these for the banquet,” he said. “Congratulations on your 100th career win.”
The feat is something only one or two seniors accomplish every few years.
“We would’ve played better if we had known it was our 100th match beforehand,” Bryson said. “So it wasn’t that exciting.”
Oct. 15, 2022 | State Tournament And so they met again. Katie and Abigail versus Greta and Bryson, part three. An oddly calm wave passed through both seniors who felt a win coming. The hunch carried them confidently through the entire match, up until match point. Being up a set, five games and 40-0 meant one point away from being in history books — and everything they’d played for since freshman year.
40-15. That’s okay, just one more point. 40-30. We can’t keep letting this slip. Deuce.
Uh oh.
The three-time state champs were just two points away from making history. Greta hits a volley smash winner. Advantage for her and Bryson. Two hearts pounded — one point away. But Katie hit a whooping first serve in the wide corner of the box to make it deuce again.
Another point lost. Sighs of frustration for the seniors. Ad out. Bryson hits a passing shot. They were expected to win — they’d spent four years waiting for this moment. Don’t think about the stakes. Back to deuce.
Eight deuces later, Bryson and Greta win a two-point streak to close out the match and become the first doubles team in Kansas history to win four titles. Viewers politely clapped, but most had seen the win coming for the veterans.
Striding off-court, Greta and Bryson hugged everyone in their path: their parents, teammates, coaches. The Kansas Athletic Association reporter ushered them away for an interview. They held up fours for photos and said countless thank yous.
After four years of three-hour practices seven times a week to train for the win, the pair got what they’d wanted most: a historical four-peat. Strangely, the memories along the way — whether silly, celebratory or bittersweet — seemed just as important as their gleaming trophy.
Instead of a racquet, Greta’s hand grasped an imaginary microphone as she belted Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood on the van ride back from state with her five fellow state champions.
It was impossible to be in a bad mood shoved between teammates, tennis bags and a state championship trophy for those three hours home. Even Gibbs cracked a smile from the driver’s seat at the off-pitch and sometimes made-up lyrics that the girls were “harmonizing.”
Relief after spending two days under pressure to win made the normally-calm group of girls giddy in their seats. Relief after four years of stress for Bryson and Greta. They’d finally done it.
When “Long Live” by Taylor Swift came on, Bryson didn’t know the lyrics — so Greta carried that song.
“Long live all the mountains we moved!” she shouted and danced, pointing at Bryson. “I had the time of my lifeeeee fighting dragons with you!”
Bryson’s eyes watered at the thought of every practice, match, loss and win they’d had together. She was supposed to be happy, and she was. But she couldn’t stop wondering what playing D1 tennis at Davidson University next year would be like without her doubles partner, impromptu-karaoke-duet buddy and close friend since third grade.
Greta kept dancing. But Bryson knew her teammate well enough to understand that the distant look on Greta’s face meant she was thinking the same thing.