Redmond wins all 10 of its IMC dual meets this season

Published 1:08 pm Wednesday, May 14, 2025

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Redmond’s Bliss Stelzer, left, returns a serve while playing doubles with partner Brooklyn Lindsey, against Bend High’s Lucy Cox and Brinnay Vaughan during a Redmond-Bend girls tennis match at Bend High Tuesday afternoon. 5-13-25 Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

Redmond’s Bliss Stelzer, from left, returns a hit while playing doubles with partner Brooklyn Lindsey, against Bend High’s Lucy Cox and Brinnay Vaughan during a Redmond-Bend girls tennis match at Bend High Tuesday afternoon. 5-13-25 Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

Redmond’s Rylie Rosenberg makes a hit while playing against Bend’s Tatum Bunting during a Redmond-Bend girls tennis match at Bend High Tuesday afternoon. 5-13-25 Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

They are single players by trade, but senior Brooklyn Lindsey and junior Bliss Stelzer have turned into a dominant doubles team throughout the season for Redmond girls tennis.

Even when they are playing singles and on opposite courts, they regularly lock eyes to try to keep their connection going. Their hyperbolic phrases “that was the best shot I’ve seen in my life” when things are going well, or “had to get out of our system” when things are not going well have created a winning formula for them and the rest of the team.

“We work so well together,” Lindsey said. “We know how to get each other out of each other’s head. We know what to say and do, which I think comes from being singles players.”

Added Stelzer: “We just get each other. We know what the other person needs.”

Typically Redmond’s top two singles players have morphed into the team’s top doubles pair. Some matches they will play singles, others they will team up to play doubles — whichever brings the best matchup to help the team pick up dual meet wins.

The versatility of both Lindsey and Stelzer helped Redmond win all 10 of its Intermountain Conference dual meets this season. Tuesday evening, the Panthers finished the regular season with a 6-2 win over Bend High to cap off the perfect IMC slate.

“It is not often that you can get girls that can play both (singles and doubles) at a high level,” said Redmond girls tennis coach Kelli Tusow. “Brookyn and Bliss have that capability, so that is an advantage that we have. If we need them to play singles we can do that, if we need them for doubles we can put them there.”

And the Panthers left little doubt this spring, beating each IMC team twice during conference play.

“I feel like it is such a big accomplishment,” Stelzer said. “The way our teams have been built up throughout the years has built us to this season. It has been fun to see. We have a really deep team. We have so many players that we can pull from, which really helps get all these wins.”

All the season’s work will come down to Friday and Saturday’s IMC championships at Caldera High. While there is no dual-meet title for whichever team has the best dual-meet record, Redmond will have a chance at an IMC team title.

“I’ll claim the dual meet title if we need to,” Tusow joked. “It is a significant thing. Districts can be won by having a really strong number-one player. The duals are a show of the whole entire team from the top to the bottom. That is one of our big advantages, is that we are really, really deep.”

The IMC championships, which is a tournament format, will be a new test for the Panthers. While the team’s depth has been the driving force behind the undefeated IMC schedule this year, they might need some players to make deeper runs through the bracket to win the IMC title.

Lindsey and Stelzer are excited to prove themselves against the conference’s best.

“We are hyped,” Stelzer said. “I think it will be a fun two days of tennis. Obviously we are a little new playing with each other, but we are just clicking. And that is such a special part of tennis, is when you just click with your tennis partner.”