2026 NSAA Girls Tennis Championships Preview

The NSAA state tennis championships get underway on Thursday at Lincoln’s Woods Tennis Center with the Class A tournament on Thursday and Friday, May 21 and 22. With the Memorial Day weekend off, the Class B meet will also be at Woods on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 26 and 27. 

Matches begin at 9:00 AM each day, with championship matches at 1:00 on Friday and Wednesday. All first round matches are played in an 8-game pro set. Second round and quarterfinal matches play two six-game sets and if needed a 10-point super tiebreaker. The semifinals and finals move to best-of-3. 

Matches at No. 1 singles and doubles are awarded four points/win and matches at No. 2 singles and doubles are awarded two points/win to determine team championships. Point values adjust down in the 3rd-8th place match tree. 

While there is no district qualifying in tennis, the participants are seeded by a committee of coaches in each class. In Class A, 16 players/teams are seeded in each bracket by a five-member committee and in Class B, 12 are seeded by a three-member committee. 

Up to date information on the championships can be found on the NSAA State Tennis Championship Central page. 

Class A: Lincoln East dynasty geared up for another run

It shouldn’t be this easy.

And it’s not. Chris Stock will tell you as much. His Lincoln East teams put in the work, just like everyone else. 

But the Spartans can sure make it look like a walk in the park more often than not. 

And while nothing is guaranteed, Lincoln East might well stroll to its fourth state championship in the past five seasons this week at Woods Tennis Center.

“We just try to have confidence and play every match, every set with the feeling that we’re good enough to beat anybody,” East coach Chris Stock said. “But we also realize there’s a lot of other good teams out there, so we’re not surprised when we get challenged or beaten.”

Challenged? Sure. Beaten? Well, that’s a different story. The combined record of the Spartans’ four state tournament entries is a mind-blowing 131-3. The mark is reminiscent of East’s 2022 boys squad, also coached by Stock, which went 174-0 on the way to a championship.

When play begins Wednesday, East will have the No. 1 seed in all four divisions, with its two doubles squads both 35-0.

If East should stumble, Stock said Omaha Marian, Lincoln Southeast, and Elkhorn South are each capable of making noise. Southeast finished third last season while Elkhorn South was fifth and Marian sixth. Kearney, which finished second to East in the Heartland Athletic Conference championship, is also a trophy contender.

No matter what, the Spartans will take on the hurdles as they come.

“We just had a talk today, just reminding everybody about some of the pitfalls that happened; some of the ways that we’ve upset teams that probably overlooked us in years past,” Stock said. “I think that helps to keep everybody grounded a little bit.”

It helps that East has the bulk of last season’s championship team back.

Start at No. 1 singles, where junior Briana Rademacher will go for her third state championship in three tries while adding to the family legacy. Older sisters Bianca and Belinda also won No. 1 singles titles for East.

Rademacher, 31-1 this year, has stepped into a larger leadership role while continuing to compete at an elite level. 

“This year she’s really established herself in that manner, and just hasn’t batted an eye at that,” Stock said. “She’s done a really good job of bringing everybody along, being inclusive, and also being a leader when it comes to working hard.”

Senior Stella Stempsen at No. 2 singles gives the Sparans a second returning champion. At 30-2, Stempsen has beaten both of the players who have beaten her this season.

Belinda Qiao, after winning No. 1 doubles as a freshman in 2025 with Kyler Garcia, now finds herself as the experienced teammate. Qiao and freshman Josalin Stock are 35-0 and the only team in the No. 1 doubles field with more than 30 wins.

A complete reload at No. 2 doubles hasn’t much changed the level of play for East. After seniors Stacia Jacobsen and Tatum Lewis won the title in 2025, Garcia, who won the No. 1 doubles title with Qiao last season, and freshman Pearl Stempsen have kept things rolling in 2026 with their own 35-0 mark.

All that’s left to do for East is try to match last season, when the Spartans scored the maximum 60 points to nearly lap the field. 

If they do it, the Spartans would complete the first Class A three-peat since Omaha Marian won four in a row from 2008-2011.

BRACKETS: No. 1 Singles | No. 2 Singles | No. 1 Doubles | No. 2 Doubles

Class B: No clear favorite for team title; three of four divisions guaranteed new champions

While Lincoln East is the overwhelming favorite in Class A, Class B could see a wide-open team race.

Five teams have two or more top-four seeds, with Grand Island Central Catholic’s three in the top four leading the way. The Crusaders haven’t won a tennis title since taking three in a row from 1999-2001.

In fact, the only non-Omaha area school to win Class B in the last 20 years is McCook, last year’s champion, which also won in 2017.

Could another non-metro team grab the title this season? Lincoln Standing Bear, in just its third year of existence, has a pair of No. 1 seeds and a No. 5 seed. Kearney Catholic has a pair of top four seeds, including a No. 1.

There are also the traditional powers. Elkhorn North, which saw its string of three consecutive titles snapped last season, has a pair of top four seeds. Omaha Skutt also has two top four seeds while seeking its first title since 2014.

At No. 1 singles, Gretna East sophomore Zoe Katsavelis is shooting for two titles in two seasons after finishing 38-0 as a freshman last season. Katsavelis is 29-1 this season, her only loss coming to two-time Class A champion Briana Rademacher of Lincoln East. A familiar face could be waiting for Katsavelis in the finals. Elkhorn North’s Aubrey Phonephakdy, who fell to Katsavelis in last year’s final, is the No. 2 seed.

There will be a new champion at No. 2 singles after McCook’s Brooklyn Gillen finished off an undefeated senior season in 2025. Lincoln Standing Bear sophomore Elsa Moran (30-2) is the top seed and trying to become the Grizzlies’ first state champion in any sport. Grand Island Central Catholic’s Emily Ye is the No. 2 seed.

The No. 1 doubles bracket could be as unpredictable as the team race. Kearney Catholic’s senior duo of Kit Schrock and Tessa Colling is seeded No. 1 with a 34-2 record and a state duals championship. But one of Schrock and Colling’s losses is to Grand Island Central Catholic, which has the No. 3 seed. That’s to say nothing of second-seeded Kate Baumert and Victoria Leu of Omaha Skutt which lost in the championship match last season.

Standing Bear’s other No. 1 seed comes at No. 2 doubles, where juniors Jayda Engelbart and Sophia Johnson are 34-2 with just one loss to Class B competition, which came against Norris in the first match of the season. It’s a similar story for the second-seeded Lexington pair of Josslyn Mins and Amelia Pepplitsch (37-3), which has two losses to Class A Kearney. Another Omaha Skutt runner-up from last season, Madilyn Eich, is paired with Mia Stevens as the No. 3 seed.

BRACKETS: No. 1 Singles | No. 2 Singles | No. 1 Doubles | No. 2 Doubles