Tomorrow is the last day of the 2019 high school tennis season, well I guess we do have Co-Ed state next week! Regardless, four teams in Columbus, Xavier, Shenandoah and Wahlert have a chance at a team state title tomorrow. Columbus is the defending state champions and enter the final four as the #1 seed. They are undefeated this year and have wins over both Wahlert and Xavier.
Why Columbus can win: Columbus is one of the best programs in Iowa High School Tennis history. They are also your 6 time defending state champions and are the favorite for the 2019 title. Losing just one senior to graduation last year, Columbus hasn't missed a beat this spring. They have beaten WSR, Wahlert and Xavier. Their match with Xavier in regular season is in the discussion for match of the year as that came down to the wire in a 5-4 win. Columbus has the experience and a storied coach in Dave Will who has been here time and time again. This team is going to be tough to beat.
Why Wahlert can win: Another really great program over the years comes in Dubuque with the Golden Eagles. They have the unfortunate reality (or luxury!) of playing 2A competition all season long as they reside in the MVC. Wahlert is coming off a thrilling 5-4 win over Fairfield in the quarterfinals and now has the daunting task of Columbus in the semi-finals. These two did play in the regular season and Wahlert suffered a 3-6 loss and I think the Golden Eagles will need some of the lower half of the lineup players stepping up to pull off the win.
Prediction: Columbus def. Wahlert 5-2
Why Xavier can win: The Saints were here last year, and lost to Pella in the semi-finals before taking 3rd over Glenwood. They are hungry to take that next step and reach the title match. Miyako Coffey and Emily Jasper, now doubles state champions lead a veteran team as the #2 seed in the tournament. Xavier returns four starters from last year, with Coffey holding down the top spot. Crazy fact, Coffey was the teams #6 player in last years state tournament and was not in the doubles lineup, now she is #1 singles and doubles + a doubles state champion. How about that! As I said above, Columbus took a 5-4 win over Xavier in the regular season and Xavier seemed like the only team that was in striking distance of Columbus this year. This is a great chance for Xavier to keep making history and win their first team title.
Why Shenandoah can win: The Filies have had a relatively quiet season, but a great one. I think their only loss was to Red Oak, who came on during the back half of the season, otherwise unbeaten from there. Shenandoah did not make the final four last year, but a one year absence may be what the program needed and they are definitely excited to be back. Nichole and Natalie Gilbert lead Shenandoah a the top of the lineup. They almost pulled off an incredible match against Columbus in the state doubles semi-finals yesterday, and ultimately took 3rd, which is still very good. Shenandoah's strength at the top is going to need to turn it on tomorrow if they want a good shot at taking out an impressive Xavier team.
Prediction: Xavier def. Shenandoah 5-2 Finals Since the title matchup is not determined until these meets are played, I can't exactly do a quick pre-cap. For the sake of this, I will go with the teams I predict to win. Columbus and Xavier have been the top two teams all season and had a very close match during the regular season. I expect this to be another very tight match and if Xavier wants to avenge their early season loss, they are going to need a couple of the lower lineup players to step up. These teams pretty much split the singles matches all over the place with neither team showing dominance at the top or bottom half. It looks like #1 doubles was the decider the first time with Hogan/Trost taking that match in a super tiebreaker. Coffey/Jasper got them back in the state doubles final yesterday so this will be quite an interesting meet. Prediction: Xavier takes out 6 time defending champion Columbus 5-4
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