ShawneeDispatch.com

Gardner — As a freshman at Mill Valley, Lindsey Buenger was just happy to make it to state when she finished fourth at regionals.

As a vastly improved sophomore, Buenger’s road back to the Class 5A state tennis tournament was much more difficult thanks to a pair of state champion roadblocks in her regional bracket on Thursday at the Gardner-Edgerton High School tennis courts.

St. Thomas Aquinas’ 2007 state champion doubles pair of Nicole Jara and Lujan Brouwer de Koning split up to play singles this postseason, and Buenger ran into both of them.

Fortunately for Buenger, she earned the No. 4 overall seed and received a first-round bye. She then blazed past Bishop Miege’s Kayln Heyen, 6-0, 6-1, to advance to become a state qualifier and advance to the semifinals.

That’s when she ran into the Aquinas buzzsaw, facing both Jara and Brouwer de Koning, before placing third at the regional tournament.

“Going into these matches I knew I’d probably have to face Nicole Jara or Lujan Brouwer de Koning and I knew those were going to be really tough because I knew how they played. I went in thinking ‘OK, I’m going to try my hardest, and whatever happens happens.’”

Buenger played a tactically solid match against Jara — the eventual regional champion — in the semifinals, but despite numerous long volleys she fell, 6-0, 6-0.

Up next in the third-place match was Brouwer de Koning. Nothing came easy in that match either, but Buenger had significantly more success. Despite double faulting numerous times, her power game worked well enough and she was able to move Boruwer de Koning from line to line and win long volleys. Ultimately, Buenger won 6-4, 6-2.

“She played well,” Mill Valley coach Casey Kuhn said. “We’ve seen some definite improvements in her mental game as well as her physical game. That forehand shot that was always out last year is finally starting to go in sometimes. She’s definitely made some major improvements, and I think part of it is that she thinks she can do it so she can.”

State takes place on Friday and Saturday at Emporia High School. Buenger (21-5) is hoping to improve on last year’s 10th-place finish.

“I feel like I’ve improved a lot in my game, so I’m thinking I’m going to do better this year,” she said. “I’m just going to try my hardest because I know I’m going to have some tough matches, and when that does happen I’m going to have to do the same thing I did out here, just keep on trying, keep on fighting.”

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