It was a perfect way to cap off the best season in program history this past weekend, as the Lincoln girls tennis team made history.

Senior Francesca Rollandini ended her career by medaling in singles at the state tournament, the first for the Lincoln program.

Then, later in the tournament, the Bulldogs made more history, as Avarie Castagna and Karlie Jones found themselves standing atop the podium as the first duo to be state medalists in doubles.

Lincoln finished 7th as a team at the OSSAA 4A State Championships in Oklahoma City, wrapping up a year to remember.

"It was really a tremendous week for us, maybe even the best week in the history of our tennis program - boys or girls," said Lincoln head coach Ty Barrett. "We qualified four of our six girls and three of four positions for the state tournament, which was a big jump from qualifying just one position a year ago."

It was the first trip to state for Castagna, Jones and Lilly Brisco and the third for Rollandini, who stands alone in that regard.

"It was honestly just an incredibly rewarding week to see how our girls competed in each and every match," Barrett said. "The greatest testament to them and to the program is they played their best matches of the season in the biggest moments during their last matches."

Rollandini, who wrapped up the spring with the most single-season wins (32) in school history, finished the weekend 4-1 to get on the podium and close out her career with a medal.

"Frannie played terrific down the stretch and showed tremendous grit and tennis IQ," Barrett said. "She won in an upset over No. 4-seed Byng in her medal match, guaranteeing her spot on the podium."

Castagna and Jones were also 4-1 on the weekend, as they carried the momentum forward from a big win in regionals.

"Avarie and Karlie really battled all weekend as well," Barrett said. "It started with an upset win over Henryetta in the regional semis and then carried into their matches at state."

The duo had to battle back after losing Friday, but showed the fight that helped them be successful all year on Saturday to find their way up to the podium.

"They came up short against Riverfield on Friday night, but responded every moment on Saturday," Barrett said. "They had to go through Metro, then a seeded Pauls Valley team and finally a rematch against a Regent team that we had previously beaten in three sets. The girls battled and didn't drop a set, sealing their podium finish with an ad-in point win to take the second set win 6-4."

"Both girls came up just short at regionals last year and had some scar-tissue from those experiences, but didn't let that affect them at all."

Brisco made it to state as a sophomore and she showed out when she got there, as the future looks bright for the young tennis star.

"Lilly stepped up for us and played her best this week, as well," Barrett said. "She had honestly the toughest role of the year, playing No. 1 singles, but she grew and developed all year. Reaching the state tournament is an incredible accomplishment for someone stepping up in her first season on varsity."

Barrett spoke about how intimidating a player's first trip to state can be, but also noticed that his team thrived in the environment and embraced the high stakes tennis.

"It can be pretty evident that at the regional and especially state tournaments that players can play a little tighter and let the atmosphere and the moment disrupt how they play," he said. "It was really impressive to see how our girls embraced and thrived in these environments all weekend and it didn't affect our play at all."

It made the head coach stop in his tracks for a moment, realizing how far the program has come in such a short time.

"It's something that makes you incredibly proud as a coach — to see them become the best versions of themselves and reach their goals in the process of that. As Saturday was wrapping up and as we secured our podium spots, I may have shed a few tears just reflecting on the growth and success of this program and these girls. It was a tremendous feeling to see them get rewarded."

The performance at state not only impressed those within and around the program, but others around the state tennis scene are beginning to take notice, as well.

"This performance is something that I think showed a lot of other people and us even that this program is on the rise and ready to start something really special," Barrett said. "We had the best finish as a team in school history and the most team points ever scored in program history at state. We had players set all time win records, and single season win records, as well. We had a player reach and surpass 30 wins for the first time ever. I think it's definitely safe to say that this was the best season in Lincoln history and is just really the beginning of what we are building here."

The girls also took home a team accomplishment as well, highlighting their success on and off the court.

"And to top all of that off, our girls were named Academic State Champs with a perfect 4.0 grade average as a team," Barrett said.