State-bound

    Neither senior Tara Schubert nor junior Kylie Newton admit to being nervous for today’s Class 6A state tennis tournament at South Maize High School in suburban Wichita.
    The Dodge City Red Demons duo qualified for the state doubles competition after placing fifth on Wednesday during the regional tourney at Genesis Health Club, an indoor facility in Wichita.
    “We’re more excited (than nervous),” said Schubert and Newton in unison Thursday afternoon at the DCHS tennis courts prior to their final workout before the state tourney.
    “We’re not nervous about it,” Schubert said.     Schubert and Newton have a 16-5 record entering today’s action. The duo started teaming up after the first two tournaments of the season.
    “I think we got better after we started playing together for a while,” Newton said.
    For Schubert, it is something she has sought since her freshman year.        “It was a big goal of mine all four  years,” Schubert said of capturing a state berth. “To be a senior and making it in my last year, I’m going to go out and give it my best shot.”
    Competing in a rugged regional, it undoubtedly has acclimated the duo for state play.
    “We have to remember that they are all beatable,” Newton said. “We just have to play our best game when we go out there.”     Dodge City coach Tamie Preston said her doubles team will probably be facing some teams from the eastern part of the state that they haven’t encountered before.
    “I do think that some of the tournaments that we go to throughout the season, sometimes the competition seems a little hard or a little over our heads,” Preston said.
    “But we’ve found out that we can play with them and compete and I think that it is a big confidence boost going into (today). We know we’ve already seen some really top people across the state and I think that will help with their nerves a little bit when they know they can compete at that level.”
    Preston said it was only a matter of time before they put the technique or the strategies into doubles play.
    “I think during the last few tournaments, they have been able to put that into action,” she said. “They know what the high-percentage shots are going to be on certain shots.
    “Overall, I think they  have just played smarter tennis. We’ve said all along, ‘It’s not how hard you hit the ball in doubles, it’s where you hit the ball.’ You have to be smart to do that, and both of these young ladies are very smart.”