After the regional success, the girls tennis team moved on to compete at the 3-2-1A State Tournament. The girls team has attended state multiple times in the past years. This year, the girls took third at the meet and earned a plaque.

Conway was represented by six players: senior Molly Schmanke, playing singles; senior Leslie Mies and junior Nicole Campbell, playing doubles; juniors Kara Koester and Karlee Osner, playing doubles, and freshman Loren May, playing singles.

Many of the team went to state the previous year. However, for Campbell and May, this was their first state experience. Despite the inexperience, May said she was excited and it was a great honor to be a freshman and compete at the state level.

“There was great team bonding,” May said. “We definitely pumped each other up before matches and congratulated each other afterwards.”

The competition was tougher than a normal meet, as 24 different teams attend state. This made the congratulations more than appropriate when any of the girls won a match. In their second match of the semi-final, Koester and Osner were losing 0-4, but came back and won 7-5. Schmanke had a similar situation during her second match in the semi-finals. She was down 0-4 and won 7-5.

“The most challenging part was the competition, especially when you’re down,” Schmanke said. “When you’re down, you gotta get back up.”