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Jasper girls tennis’ No. 1 duo reflects on history-making IHSAA state championship run

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Jasper girls tennis’ No. 1 duo reflects on history-making IHSAA state championship run

When times got tough, Paige Giesler and Reese Mundy kept going.

Jasper High School’s No. 1 girls tennis doubles pair faced intense competition throughout the IHSAA individual state finals over the weekend in Indianapolis. Their first match was an all-Southern Indiana Athletic Conference affair against Central’s Zoee and Sydnee Robinson. Giesler and Mundy then saw a Guerin Catholic duo in the semifinals and Fishers’ top pair in the championship.

But the Wildcats’ duo rolled to win the state title without dropping a set. Giesler and Mundy (27-2) are Jasper’s third girls doubles pair to win state, but perhaps more impressive is the Wildcats have done so in back-to-back seasons with four different girls. That had never been done in IHSAA history.

They hugged post-match to celebrate their accomplishments.

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“Honestly, I don’t know what was going through my mind (after winning state),” said Giesler, a senior. “I still haven’t really settled into the fact that we won. With people still telling us congratulations and being so happy for us, it was like, ‘I was there. I did it.’ But it still doesn’t feel real, that’s for sure.”

“Especially on the last point, everything was just crazy,” added Mundy, a junior. “Everybody ran out on the court. It was just really exciting. Even after we were getting interviewed and taking pictures, it just all went by in a blur.”

There are connections between Jasper’s latest championship and its first from 1999. Both runs featured a Giesler coached by a Yarbrough. Current coach Scott Yarbrough said anything done that his late father Ed achieved is “probably a pretty good thing.”

The most important factor in Jasper’s tennis success remains its players.

“The four girls that played these last two years could easily play college tennis somewhere,” Yarbrough said. “To be able to do what we’re doing 25 years later almost to the day and to continue doing it that way really says a lot. We feel like we’re doing it the correct way.”

Giesler started the spring playing alongside senior Addison Hayes but has been paired with Mundy since the second match of the season. Their confidence and chemistry have progressed as the year went on considering they’re both aggressive whether at the net or putting balls away and hitting them hard.

“That’s what we do here at Jasper, and we both do that to the extreme,” Giesler said. “We both just complemented that really well with each other.”

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Giesler is grateful for her time at Jasper, the coaching she’s received and the friendships she made. Although she’s graduated, she knows she will forever be part of the Jasper family.

“Jasper tennis is not just a sport and just things you get to do with your friends, it truly is a family,” Giesler said. “Like the girls and guys side, we both support each other to the max. It’s just a good feeling knowing that these people really have my back. That’s what I’m going to miss the most.”

Now, Mundy will seek a new partner to continue the program’s success. Jasper’s expectation for decades has been to end seasons at state to build upon their history with now three champions in girls doubles, plus a boys team state title.

The Wildcats ended this spring ranked No. 4 in the state. While they have fallen to eventual champion South Bend St. Joseph at state three years in a row, they’re confident in their ability to someday clinch their first girls team title.

“I’m really looking forward to next year,” Mundy said. “Next season, we’re going to come back stronger and hopefully go up to win the team state title. We really have the potential to do that next year.”

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