Published: May 02, 2008 12:22 am         

Farmersville duo hopes hard work pays off at state

FARMERSVILLE — Outside of sisters, it would be hard to find a high school girls doubles team with a closer bond than that of senior Kylie Bishop and sophomore Becky Forbus from Farmersville.

Bishop and Forbus are next-door neighbors. Bishop’s father Bobby and Forbus’ mother Rachel both work at the same business: Tedford Chevrolet in Farmersville.

Bishop and Forbus were also teammates in cross country, basketball and volleyball.

Sometimes Bishop gives the younger Forbus rides to and from school and practice.

Their close bond and strong teamwork have helped them win six tournament titles this season, including the District 13-2A title and the Region II-2A championship. They’ve only lost one match all season, that one to a Class 4A team.

They’ve advanced to the University Interscholastic League State Tournament in Austin where Bishop and Forbus will face a team from traditional 2A power Mason, Chelsea Price and Skyler Wooden, in the quarterfinals at 11:30 a.m. on Monday at the Penick-Allison Courts at the University of Texas.

“We’ve been practicing hard,” said Farmersville coach Clint Clayton. “We hope it’ll pay off.”

The Lady Farmers’ hard work paid off with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Katie Dowd and Hilary Stone of Holliday in the region finals. Dowd and Stone reached the semifinals at state last year before falling 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to Denay Baxter and Samantha Lange of Mason. Baxter and Lange took second at state last year to another team from Mason, whose players have graduated. Baxter and Lange are back at state this year.

Bishop was also at state last year, falling 6-4. 6-2 to Cally Woerner of Comfort in the singles quarterfinals.

She said she learned something from that loss.

“To not be really nervous at the beginning,” she said.

Bishop is a true veteran of state competition, having also advanced twice to state in cross country.

She said “it’s still exciting” to be going back to state.

This’ll be Forbus’ first state competition. But don’t expect her to be intimidated by Mason’s rich tradition, which includes a number of state titles. Mason fans usually very boisterous and pack the stands for the Punchers’ matches.

“Crowds don’t win games,” said Forbus.

Farmersville fans have also been known for turning out in big numbers to cheer on the Fightin’ Farmers’ athletic teams. The Farmersville fans cheered the Fightin’ Farmers on to a state football title this past fall.

Obviously, the Farmersville tennis team would like to duplicate the success of its football team. Bishop said the Lady Farmers’ strategy at state is “to win” and “play our best tennis.”

When she’s not hitting against Bishop, Forbus sometimes practices against her brother Ben, who took third at region in boys singles.

“He hits really hard,” said Becky. “He’s really good.”

Bishop and Forbus also try to put plenty of pace on the ball.

“We’re very aggressive,” said Bishop.

Clayton, their coach, called the two players “very coachable” and “a joy to be around.”

He said the two are very athletic and play well together as a team.

“They’ve played enough together to know where each other should be,” he said.

What else would you expect from next-door neighbors?