Caroline White and Madelynn White are siblings who got the opportunity to play tennis together in high school for just one season, as Caroline is a senior and Madelynn is a freshman.
The sisters made the most of that opportunity, reaching the finals of the state tennis tournament in girls’ doubles.
The Whites won 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 over Fredericksburg in the quarterfinals match to earn their spot in the semifinals last Friday.
The girls played Tuloso Midway in the semifinals.
According to Lampasas head coach Kenneth Peiser, they had beaten the same Fredericksburg team at regionals.
“Our girls came out firing in the first set and won 6-1,” he said of the state semifinals. “Gaining momentum, we jumped out to a 5-0 lead, and then [Midway] hit a few good shots and started keeping everything in play and crept back into it. It was 5-4 before we finished it off 6-4 and a well-deserved, excited White team was headed to the finals that afternoon after another big win.”
The White sisters then were set up to play Wimberley in the doubles finals. The level of difficulty ratcheted up as the pace increased, and the consistency from their opponent was much improved. They lost the first set 6-0, but then responded early in the second set to take a 4-1 lead.
Peiser said the sisters couldn’t keep that momentum, and they went on to lose that second set 6-4. Their run for the state doubles title came to an end.
Without a doubt, Caroline White and Madelynn White have a level of chemistry that comes from their years of playing together in a family that has always loved tennis.
Their dad, Eric White, is the high school assistant tennis coach. Their mom, Laina White, is a former middle school tennis coach. The family – which includes a younger White daughter -- has been playing tennis for many years, and that love for the game had a big role in their success this season.
“The girls had an amazing tournament and have finished higher than any other tennis individual from Lampasas,” Peiser said. “They have proven that hard work does pay off, and repetition and competition in school and on their own is key to getting to that next level.
“A lot of family, friends and teammates showed up to support the girls, and they did not let them down,” he said.
Over the course of the school year and through both the fall and spring tennis seasons from Aug. 6 to May 8, the White/White doubles team captured a bi-district championship in the fall and then were state finalists in the spring, earning a secondplace finish. “This team has done an amazing job, and I am very proud of how all of them push each other to get better to the very end,” Peiser said. “Each and every one of them has a part in all the success. They only have each other to play and get better.”
This season will serve as a new expectation for the tennis program, as the players start again next season to try and get back to the state tournament. Six girls are graduating, so that group will be fairly new next year, but seven senior boys will look to lead the way for Lampasas in their final campaign.
