The Fairfield girls tennis team finally got over the hump Saturday, October 3rd, defeating Assumption 5-0 in the Class 1A Region 8 final at the Fairfield Middle School courts to advance to the Iowa State Team Tournament — capping off a historic, undefeated season in which the Trojans did not drop a single dual match or individual game all regular season and through the entire regional bracket.
The victory ends a stretch of postseason heartbreak at this exact stage. Two seasons ago, Fairfield was swept by Xavier 5-0 in the regional final. Last season, the Trojans fell in a heartbreaker to Central DeWitt 5-4 on their own home courts. The players knew this was their season to break through. Saturday also brought a welcome change — after a month of historic rainfall across southeast Iowa that had pushed matches indoors and forced reschedules, the day delivered a sunny afternoon for tennis on the Fairfield home courts. It was a fitting backdrop for the biggest win of the season so far, and one of the biggest wins in half a decade.
Assumption advanced to the final by defeating Keokuk 5-0 in their semifinal. The Knights fielded a notably young team, with only one senior — Alexis Steining — on the roster, alongside two freshmen and three sophomores. Fairfield, by contrast, featured five seniors and lone freshman Kinzley Dunkin.
The Match
Freshman Kinzley Dunkin wasted no time getting Fairfield on the board, sweeping freshman Elena Lorenzen 6-0, 6-0 at No. 6 to give the Trojans an immediate 1-0 lead. Mareyn Dunkin was equally dominant at No. 4, sending sophomore Lucy Bush packing 6-0, 6-0 to make it 2-0. Sriya Yammanur took care of sophomore Clara Reagan 6-2, 6-0 at No. 3, and Faeven Gebremariam closed out the lone Assumption senior, Alexis Steining, 6-0, 6-3 at No. 5. Four down, one to go.
With Fairfield one win away from punching their ticket to team state, all eyes turned to the final two matches still on court — Ria Ross at No. 2 against sophomore Charley Diiulio and Natalie Steele at No. 1 against sophomore Lea Patrick. The entire team gathered courtside, the tension building with every game.
Ria Ross vs. Charley Diiulio — No. 2
Ross and Diiulio were locked in a competitive battle from the opening game. Ross edged the first set 7-5 before Diiulio dug in and took the second 7-5 to force a tiebreaker, leaving everything on the line. Ross went up early in the tiebreaker, built on her lead, and never looked back — closing it out 10-4 to deliver the fifth and decisive point. The Trojan sideline erupted. The moment was especially meaningful for Ross, who finished third in the regional singles bracket the week prior and earned only alternate status for the individual state tournament rather than an automatic bid. For a senior who had been on the outside looking in at the individual level, making team state gave her the moment she had been chasing all season, now reaching state for the second year in a row after placing seventh with Sriya Yammanur in doubles at the individual state tournament.
Natalie Steele vs. Lea Patrick — No. 1
The marquee matchup of the day pitted Steele, ranked eighth individually in Class 1A, against Patrick, ranked fourth — and it was also a rematch from last year’s state tournament, where Steele defeated Patrick in the consolation bracket in a hard-fought 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 10-8 battle, as Steele went on to place eighth for the second year in a row. Saturday’s rematch was shaping up to be another classic. Steele won a tight first set 7-6 (7-4), but went down 0-5 in the second and had the Trojan sideline holding its breath. What followed was one of the most compelling moments of the season — teammates Yammanur and Kinzley Dunkin came over courtside and made Steele smile, and from that point forward she did not drop another game, ripping off six consecutive games to pull within 6-5 and force Patrick to serve to stay in the set. The match was called at that point, as Ross had already clinched Fairfield’s fifth win, leaving Steele’s comeback unfinished but the result already decided.
The Historic Season
Fairfield’s win Saturday capped off a season unlike any the program has seen in recent memory. The Trojans went 9-0 in regular season dual matches with every match won by a perfect 9-0 score, going 81-0 in individual matches across the season. They won 91 straight games in team dual matches. They swept both Oskaloosa and Assumption 5-0 in the regional bracket without dropping a single game as a team across the entire season and regional run — a feat that is difficult to fully comprehend.
The last time Fairfield reached the state team tournament was in 2021, when the program finished third under then-head coach Heidi Grunwald — who was present Saturday to watch her former program punch its ticket back. Grunwald, who was recently named the 2026 Iowa Masonic Teacher of the Year, was in attendance to see head coach Travis Dunkin lead the Trojans back to the state stage. It marks the first state team tournament berth under Dunkin, who is in his third year as head coach and his second year as sole head coach after serving as co-coach in his first season.
The team celebrated their historic victory with some well-deserved ice cream following the match.
Head Coach Travis Dunkin Comments
Fairfield head coach Travis Dunkin said the day was everything the program had been building toward. “It is a great day. So happy for these girls. It was their mission to get that team banner this year after losing last year on our home courts. For them to do it in this fashion — not dropping a single match all year — is something special.”
Dunkin said going into the match he liked Fairfield’s chances across the board. “Going in we liked our chances at three through six and were confident, and knew the one and two was going to be very tough. Natalie and Ria looked great.” He singled out Steele’s comeback in the second set as a significant moment. “Natalie was down 0-5 in the second set and to come back and win the next six is great for her confidence — when she believes like that, she’s tough to handle.”
On Ross clinching the decisive point, Dunkin said the poetic nature of the moment was not lost on him. “It’s almost poetic for Ria to have her match be the decisive win to clinch state after having a tough loss at regionals. So happy for her — her win punched the ticket.”
Dunkin closed by reflecting on what this senior group has meant to him. “It’s been an amazing ride for the five seniors this year. They are great friends off the court and that shows on the court in how they support each other and believe in one another. I’m so blessed and thankful to be a part of this journey with them. Something I’ll always remember.”
Natalie Steele Comments
Steele said the day was everything she hoped it would be. “I thought today went great. To get the first four wins and then for it to come down to me and Ria’s match, and everybody came over and cheered us on through the whole thing — it felt great.”
When asked about going down 0-5 in the second set against Patrick, Steele pointed to the moment her teammates came over as the turning point. “I just needed to get out of my head. As soon as Sriya and Kinzley came over, they made me smile. I didn’t drop a game since. I just need to stay up. When I play with a smile on my face, I play fun. I play free. I get points.”
On what it means to make team state with this senior group in her final year: “I’m so happy. Couldn’t have asked for a better group to do it with. You’ve got Mareyn, you got Faeven, you got Sriya, you got Ria, and we’ve played together forever. And then you have Kinzley to come in and help us get this win. Just feels great.”
Ria Ross Comments
Ross said the win reinforced something she already believed about the sport. “We did it. It’s helped me realize that tennis is such a mental game and you can do anything you put your mind to if you just follow through with your strokes and have confidence in yourself.”
On the second set, where she lost her footing before regrouping in the tiebreaker: “I did lose some of my confidence there unfortunately. I was second-guessing myself and that led to a lot of unnecessary errors and mistakes and I was beginning to get very tense. Then I realized once that set was over and the tiebreaker that it was 0-0 — it’s a completely new game. I had to play Ria’s game, not my opponent’s — which is what I was doing — and that’s kind of why I locked in and gained some confidence.”
Making team state as a senior after earning only alternate status for the individual tournament made the moment all the more meaningful for Ross. “I’m beyond happy. I don’t know how to describe it. The best part is we get to do it all together. I’m just so proud of everyone and so thankful for everyone’s support.”
Mareyn Dunkin Comments
For Mareyn, Saturday felt like the payoff for four years of work. “We’ve been working for this since my freshman year. To watch somebody else do it last year on our court, it just made us even more hungry for it. Now we get to celebrate on our home court.”
She said the senior group came in with a different mentality Saturday knowing how long this moment had been building. “We felt we were really ready for this moment because it has been a long time coming. And we’ve just been able to prepare for it.”
On what it has meant to have her younger sister Kinzley alongside her in what is Mareyn’s final season: “It’s been extremely cool because, well, we’re the Dunkin Duo. We do everything together.”
Kinzley Dunkin Comments
As the only freshman on the roster, Kinzley said the team’s belief in her helped her handle the pressure of the moment. “It was definitely a lot of pressure, but all of my teammates were telling me that I can handle it. I’ve played seniors before, and I wanted to play another freshman. It takes you a little bit to get used to the pressure when you’re on the court, but once you know that you can handle it, you just go with the thing.”
Finishing first and then spending the rest of the afternoon anxiously checking on her teammates was its own kind of stressful. “I was definitely a nervous wreck after because I’m like, oh my goodness, I’m trying to go to every court, making sure everybody’s doing okay. And I’m like, everybody was like, are you already done? And I was like, yeah. It wasn’t that long. I wish it would have been longer, but I mean.”
On what the experience of playing alongside five seniors has taught her: “When you’re hitting with older girls, they have much more powerful swings than you, so you have to shorten your swing and kind of adjust because you’re not used to that amount of pressure or that amount of power. So it’s just, it’s hard because like when you’re doing drills, they’re doing it perfect. And I’m like, wait, what am I supposed to do? So it’s definitely a learning curve to adjust to how they’re hitting.”
Sriya Yammanur Comments
Yammanur said the magnitude of what the team accomplished did not fully hit her until it was over. “I think it’s amazing. Well, last year we were cut short 4-5, and this being our senior year, us sending five out of six players to state and also qualifying for team state — that is a big accomplishment, especially for our school. And I think it’s just, I don’t know, I’m so proud of everyone, especially five out of six of us being seniors too. We all get to cherish this forever.”
She described the tension of watching Ria and Natalie’s matches from the sideline while mentally preparing for the possibility of doubles — with a laugh. “Don’t want to do doubles. Oh yeah, oh yeah. We were mentally preparing for doubles because we were told that we were going to start warming up if these two got tiebreakers, which one of them did. And so we were all stressing over there. We were just praying, hoping that our teammates would pull through — and they did. Both of them did. And we’re just — I can definitely speak for both of us (herself and Faeven) — we’re very proud of everyone who played today.”
Looking ahead, Yammanur sees the individual state tournament as valuable preparation. “I guess just a lot of focused drills. Our coach, I’m sure he’ll have stuff to say about what we can improve on. And individual state will definitely help us with practicing for team state.”
Faeven Gebremariam Comments
Gebremariam said the feeling after the win was something she had to sit with for a moment. “It just feels really surreal. I think that’s the word for it. But like deep down, I had a good feeling we were gonna get this because we’ve been working so hard this season. And like she (Sriya) said, like five of us being seniors, we’ve played together for all these four years — so bringing that team spirit coming down today was really important and I think it’s really helpful because it’s true.”
On staying locked in during her own match after Kinzley left while the drama unfolded on other courts, Gebremariam reflected on a similar situation from last year. “I’ve grown used to that. The same thing happened last year basically, but I turned out to be like the last person playing. But over there I was like, as long as my teammates are getting the support that they need, I’m fine. Like I was winning, so I didn’t need any extra support. But every time my coach came back to say you’re doing great, keep it up — it was good to hear. So I was glad I was getting that, and I won, so it was fine.”
Gebremariam said she sees the individual state tournament as a stepping stone heading into team state. “Individual state will definitely help with our stamina because we’ll be playing all day. So I’m excited for that and I’m hoping that we can bring what we learned from individual state into team state.”
What’s Next
Fairfield now awaits their draw for the 1A State Team Tournament bracket, set for October 12th and 13th at Pella High School in Pella. Before that, the Trojans send five of six players to the individual state tournament on October 7th and 8th at Waukee Northwest High School in Waukee. Regional singles champion Natalie Steele will face Chloe Palmer of St. Edmond in the opening round. The Dunkin Duo of Mareyn and Kinzley, as regional doubles champions, will face a familiar pair — Assumption’s Charley Diiulio and Lea Patrick — giving them a unique advantage having watched Ria and Natalie both battle those same players Saturday. Yammanur and Gebremariam, as regional doubles runners-up, will open against the duo of Greenley Grell and Claire McGarry of Central DeWitt.
