Tennis duo Birdwell, Qualls named Athletes of the Week

Last week, Graham’s Steers and Lady Blues tennis teams competed in the district competition at Glen Rose and came home with a handful of hardware.

Both the boys and girls teams finished as runners-up in district after a strong showing all around. Four athletes qualified for the regional competition in Lubbock in May, and two of those work together in the same pairing.

Reagan Birdwell of the Lady Blues and Luke Qualls of the Steers, who play together as one of the program’s elite mixed doubles teams, earned selections as athletes of the week after they won their second championship in as many years in that category.

Reagan Birdwell, mixed doubles, Lady Blues tennis

As one of the seniors and leaders on the Graham tennis team, Birdwell is an example of consistency. And that consistency, along with her work with Qualls as a mixed doubles duo, has led to a lot of wins for this program over the last few years.

Birdwell and Qualls have competed together as a pairing since last year and it has continued to pay off. The two won a district championship in their category in their first spring season playing together and they’ve stayed at or near the top since.

She’s a strong example of fundamentals in her play, as she’ll force the other team to make the mistakes. Birdwell moves around the court well and plays with such fine technique that it’s rare for her to make errors.

“Reagan, as far as her tennis skill goes, she’s very solid,” head coach Matt Birdwell said. “She’s not going to make very many mistakes, she is going to keep the ball in play, she’s going to be very consistent.”

Since the school year started, which includes the fall and spring seasons, Reagan and Qualls have a 23-8 record, a winning percentage of .821. 14 of those wins came in this spring season as the two worked their way to the top seed in the district tournament.

And while it requires a great amount of skill from both teammates, Reagan has been a steady force for a truly dominant team. Regionals are still weeks away, but she made her mark on Graham tennis with an incredible district championship win.

Luke Qualls, mixed doubles, Steers tennis

As the other half of Graham tennis’s championship-winning duo, Qualls is a force to be reckoned with on the court. He’s long developed his abilities and risen to the top of Graham’s tennis team.

With Reagan as his partner for the last two years, the two of them have become accustomed to winning — and winning a lot. The pair have known each other since before their high school years, but since becoming a tennis tandem they’ve crushed the competition.

“Last year, we put them in just kind of as, ‘Let’s see what they would do together.’” Matt Birdwell said. “And when we did they kind of took off. They did great for us last year, they won several tournaments…they were district champs last year, as well. So I kept them together again this year and they’ve done well all year.”

In contrast with Reagan’s solid foundation, Qualls brings a lot of power to the court. He’s one of the hardest hitting players on the team and provides a driving force in the matches, which has led to numerous lopsided wins.

“When he goes out there and he’s warming up with the team, he intimidates the other team because they see the power, they see what they’re going to be coming up against,” Matt Birdwell said. “... So you have (Reagan, who is) very consistent, is going to keep the ball in play and (Qualls) brings the thunder. He’s going to go out there, he’s going to carry a big stick and scare the bejesus out of them.”