When Mackenzie Shaw and Megan Bogemann step on to the Fishers High School tennis courts Saturday morning, they will officially be graduates of Waldron High School.
Just when they will stop wearing Mohawks athletic gear is still to be determined.
The doubles pairing debuts at the regional level Saturday at Fishers against Blue River Valley’s Samantha Webb and Jenna Willis (15-1).
Shaw (photo, right) and Bogemann (photo, left), a perfect 17-0 in their second season together, need a win to advance to the regional championship match to face either Brownsburg’s Shelby Allen and Evelyn Cougill or Hamilton Southeastern’s Misha Bukkasagaram and Emily Orme.
The Mohawks have not played a match since winning the Center Grove Sectional title 10 days earlier. They have spent this week refining their skills and strategy against a variety of players, including head coach Chelsea Platt.
“We’re just really working on our game and playing to our strengths against anyone we play and working on our weaknesses,” said Shaw.
Shaw and Bogemann advanced out of the team sectional in 2021 but were eliminated in their first doubles tournament match at the Center Grove tennis complex.
“We knew what to expect (this year),” said Bogemann. “Center Grove is a really big school and it was kind of overwhelming just seeing that.”
That experience will help Saturday at Fishers High School. So will a highly-decorated senior season that includes a volleyball sectional championship as well as sectional and regional titles in the basketball season.
Waldron and Blue River Valley met in the regular season but neither coach utilized their No. 1 doubles team that day so Shaw and Bogemann have not gone head-to-head with Webb and Willis.
Shaw and Bogemann will graduate Saturday morning at 9 a.m. then quickly head to Fishers for the regional tournament.
Their match is expected to start at 11:30 a.m. The championship match is slated for 3:30 p.m.
“I don’t know what it is going to take to beat them,” said Platt. “It will have to be a good team.”
The next loss will be the last loss for the duo that have not experienced much defeat their entire senior year.
“We’ve been playing sports together since we were in second grade … our whole senior class,” said Shaw. “Knowing that we are the last ones playing right now is kind of bittersweet to know this chapter of our lives is almost over. We are excited to start the next chapter.”
Shaw is headed to IUPUI to study Nursing. Bogemann will attend Purdue University for Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences.
On Saturday, the pair will rely on their athleticism and faith in each other.
“We’ve known each other forever,” said Bogemann. “We’ve been best friends forever. I think knowing each other that well really helps with that aspect of the game.”
Platt knows her top doubles team, the first Waldron tennis players to play in the regional round of the state tournament, will not be intimidated by the environment. They can lean on each other as they have done all season.
“They balance each other out really well,” said Platt. “Kenzie has a lot of power. Megan has a lot of consistency with placement so they balance each other out.”
“We can feed off each other’s energy,” said Shaw. “We know when something is going wrong and we’ve really helped each other a lot this year. We know what to expect from each other.”
Shaw and Bogemann won the Mid-Hoosier Conference title this season and were recently selected District 4 All-District by the Indiana High School Tennis Coaches Association.
With two wins Saturday, the Mohawks would advance to the quarterfinal round of the State Finals doubles tournament June 10-11 at Park Tudor High School.
