Carroll’s Brandon Steven adds to family’s Kansas tennis legacy with 5A title
The Steven name has been attached to Kansas high school tennis trophies for more than three decades now, passed from Kapaun Mt. Carmel to Bishop Carroll, from one generation to the next, from one set of expectations to another.
Brandon Steven II has always known what comes with that.
He has grown up hitting with family members who understand the sport at a championship level. So when Brandon walked onto the court this past weekend at Andover District Tennis Complex, he was not just chasing a Class 5A singles state championship.
He was trying to add his own name to the family story.
“I love that my whole family plays tennis, but I also want to make my own path and hopefully be the best Steven when it’s all said and done,” Brandon said. “There’s definitely a lot of pressure, but I feel like I play good under pressure. I don’t mind it, at all.”
He looked like it.
With a game plan built more on discipline than flash, the Bishop Carroll sophomore capped a dominant weekend by defeating reigning champion Evan Goates of Maize South, 6-2, 6-1, in the championship match. Steven became just the third singles state champion in Carroll boys tennis history, joining Rodney Steven III and Jack Oxler.
On a family tree already crowded with champions, Brandon became the eighth Steven to win a Kansas high school tennis state title.
The first generation, all at Kapaun, produced six titles from Julie Steven in 1990, Rodney Steven II in 1990, Corey Steven from 1999-2001 and Brent Steven in 2000. The second generation, all at Carroll, has now produced six more from Breckyn Steven in 2015, Rodney III in 2016 and 2017, Brynn Steven in 2022 and 2023 and Brandon II in 2026.
And that does not include the three Steven sisters — Brayden, Brittany and Lauren — who helped Carroll win the girls team state championship in 2018.
“It’s not really something that we talk about, but everyone knows that family has got a big history in the tennis world,” Carroll coach Darren Huslig said. “There’s certainly pressure, but I think Brandon embraces that and he wants to continue that tradition on and add to the legacy.”
Huslig has grown used to the question by now.
For most of the last decade, opposing coaches have asked him if there is another Steven coming through Carroll’s tennis program. Huslig gets to smile and nod. The other coach usually grimaces.
That family tradition is broad, but Julie Steven remains its defining figure. After winning a state title as a freshman at Kapaun in 1990, she reached the U.S. Open girls’ singles final in 1992 while still in high school before turning professional. She was also named Missouri Valley Junior Player of the Year three straight years from 1990-92.
To Brandon, Julie is more than a name from the family record book. She is part of the reason the sport became so deeply rooted in the Steven family, a standard-setter whose success helped turn tennis into something passed down and chased by the next generation.
Brandon has grown up inside that tennis world, but Saturday’s title belonged to his own style and his own poise. His plan was simple: make first serves, stay steady from the baseline and don’t chase the spectacular shot.
Against Goates, that was easier said than done.
Goates has the clean ball-striking and shot-making ability to flip any match his way. He had beaten Steven in an epic state tournament match last year on his way to winning the 5A title. The two are familiar opponents and offseason training partners, having split their first two meetings this season before Steven gained the upper hand late.
“When Evan gets hot, it is really hard to beat him,” Brandon said. “So I just had to make sure I stayed on top of things. You don’t have to hit the ball the hardest, you just have to stay consistent. That was the name of the game.”
Steven’s weekend was nearly flawless.
He did not lose a game Friday on his way to the semifinals. On Saturday morning, he continued his strong form with a 6-0, 6-3 semifinal win over Andover Central’s Henry Walker.
Goates had a much more difficult route to the final. He survived a three-hour semifinal against Andover’s Harsha Maradana, rallying after facing match point for a 6-7 (1), 7-6 (2), 6-1 victory.
Tired legs or not, Goates remained dangerous. But Steven simply never let him breathe.
“The entire year, those two have just been battling back and forth,” Maize South coach Frank Reyes said. “Evan definitely didn’t play his best tennis, but Brandon still had to go out there and win it. He’s just so good. We have nothing but respect for him.”
He extended rallies. He absorbed pace. He chased down balls that seemed headed for winners. He forced Goates to hit one more shot, then another, then another. What should have been one of the most difficult tasks in the 5A bracket — beating the defending champion — began to look surprisingly routine.
“Brandon has the ability to stay laser focused,” Huslig said. “Once the match starts, he is 100% dialed in and he is focused like none other with his mission. However he’s got to play, he’s going to make it happen.
“He has an uncanny ability to run shots down. He is able to keep points alive that most guys just can’t. He just kept putting pressure on Evan to come up with bigger, better shots.”
When the final point was over, Steven had more than a championship. He had a place in the club he had spent years waiting to join.
“To me, winning a state title means more than a USTA tournament,” Brandon said. “It’s just really satisfying.”
Now Brandon’s attention is already drifting toward a more exclusive branch of the family tree. Of the eight Steven family members who have won high school tennis state titles, only Corey, Rodney III and Brynn have defended one.
Having so much support from the family tree made it mean even more this past Saturday.
“It’s really cool when they come to watch,” Brandon said, “because you know that they all understand what you’re going through.”
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Bishop Carroll duo finishes off undefeated state championship run
The Golden Eagles also won the 5A doubles championship, as senior Gabe Weber and sophomore Braeden Dugan completed a perfect 31-0 season with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Blue Valley Southwest’s freshman duo of Sabinth Kathiresan and Hamza Khan.
Weber and Dugan were fourth at state last season and entered this spring as the top returning doubles team in 5A. But what made them nearly untouchable was how much both players improved before the season began.
They lost only 10 games combined in eight sets at the state tournament. By the end, their title run felt less like a surprise and more like the payoff for months of separation from the field.
“From the very first matches of the year, you could just tell that there was something different about them and the quality was just so much better,” Huslig said. “They are true tennis players who worked hard on their craft and took pride in it. When they played with energy, with their skill level, they were just on another level.”
The title was historic for Carroll. Weber and Dugan became just the second doubles state champions in program history and the first since Steve Dekker and Robert Klein won the 5A doubles title in 1982.
Despite winning both brackets in 5A, taking the singles title and the doubles title, Carroll’s 32 points only netted it the third-place team trophy. Maize South won the team championship with 42 points, while Blue Valley Southwest was second with 33.
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