Century’s Daniel and Liam McGee were nearly unbeatable on the court on the way to a second state doubles title

POCATELLO – When Daniel McGee first started playing tennis at Century, he probably never planned on playing doubles with his little brother, coach Sean Kane said.

But that changed two years ago when Liam McGee joined the program as a freshman.

“It went extremely well,” Kane said of the eventual pairing of the McGee brothers.

So well that the duo won a second straight state title in doubles this year and totaled more than 50 wins over their two seasons together.

“As they’ve grown up I don’t know if they ever pictured playing with each other, but it ended up being awesome and good bonding for them,” Kane noted.

Daniel, who was a senior this past season, had already established himself as a singles player, placing second in state as a freshman and fourth as a sophomore.

Liam joined the program as a freshman two years ago and the two decided to pair up.

They’ve been nearly unbeatable ever since.

“Getting doubles partners that are going to work together can be a whole different equation in itself,” Kane said. “But they both had a lot of buy-in with each other and it was fun.”

There wasn’t much of a learning curve two years ago when the brothers took the court as a doubles team and they only got better their second season together.

“This year they were so good,” Kane said, noting the duo could compete with any team in any division in the state.

Century has been one of the area’s top tennis programs and nearly added a boys team title this year. Bolstered by the doulbes title, the Diamondbacks finished runners-up to Bishop Kelly by just 1.5 points.

“Century tennis, as a whole, how we practice and how hard we compete among ourselves is what makes us so solid year-in and year-out,” Kane said. “Daniel and Liam are part of that.”