Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
DOUBLES TEAM OF THE YEAR
Jenna Kate Bohnert and Grace Lueders
SCHOOL Rogers High
CLASS Both are juniors
THE SCOOP The duo successfully defended their Class 6A state and state overall championships, although they needed a third set to come from behind and win the overall title a second time. … They suffered their first loss in more than 2 years when they dropped a 6-4, 7-5 decision to the Bentonville West team of Darby Allison and Cassie Cervantes, but bounced back to win the 6A-West Conference and 6A state titles with straight-set victories, including a 6-2, 6-1 win over Allison and Eva Lopez to claim conference title.
DID YOU KNOW? The two players had gone to school together since fifth grade, but really didn’t know each other until they became teammates last year. Lueders said they have now become closer both on and off the court. They have started hanging out more with each other and have become good friends. QUOTABLE “The thing I had to get better, 100 percent, was my play at the net,” Lueders said. “I was very timid near the net last year because I hadn’t played doubles before. It was all new to me. I had to get more aggressive and take more chances, and I think that really helped because I came out of my shell. I was shy and almost scared to be around the net, but that push by Jenna and coach (Matt) Melton made a difference. If I hadn’t, we might not have had the outcome we had.”
“There was a lot of pressure on us, but we really didn’t realize it until everything was said and done,” Bohnert said. “We had finished our last match, and we went to eat about an hour later and that’s when it started hitting us. It was unreal. It didn’t seem like the end of the season. It seemed like we had so much more to play because the two of us had spent the whole summer and the whole season preparing for this. When it was over, it was surprising. We had heard a couple of teams were working really hard to get us, so it was important for us to do well and win it all over again.”