Postseason 2022 is in full swing and next up is the team regionals for the girls this weekend. All teams have a shot in claiming a state title and the road begins on Saturday with one or two rounds taking place. While there are some state contender favorites, this is a great opportunity for many teams to do some damage and end their season on a high note. Check out my predictions and quick tidbits below before play begins in a few days!
2A Team Regionals
State Quarterfinals Prediction
Region 1:
Not a ton of excitement in the first region where I do expect Valley and Johnston to meet up in the quarterfinals and both teams to get there in a straight forward fashion. In what was a closer regular season dual than people might think, I expect these two to have another close match with the semi-finals on the line. Give me Valley in another close match.
Region 2:
Dowling will begin their title defense here in region 2. The Maroons have been dominant all year and haven't played another team that really pushed them to the limit, that being said, anything can happen in postseason. The bottom half of this region could get interesting with a potential clash of Ankeny and Urbandale bidding for a quarterfinals spot. I think this dual will be very close, but give me freshman standout Kira Smith and the Hawkettes.
Region 3:
Cedar Falls is in prime position to get back to state and have little resistance doing so, and like region 2, the bottom half could get very competitive with a matchup of IC Liberty and Clinton. Clinton has traditionally been a good team over the years and continues to make deep runs in the postseason, while Liberty has achieved their first state ranking in program history a couple of weeks ago. I'll take Clinton to pull through with their experience.
Region 4:
A pretty straight forward region 4 lines up a potential matchup of CR Wash and Pleasant Valley. PV would have to get through Bettendorf for a third time this year, and they should. Depth is going to be extremely important in this quarterfinal match as the top is full of state title hopefuls for each team and could fall either direction. Whichever team can steal more matches in the 3-6 range will be successful. I'll take Wash in a close meet.
1A Team Regionals
State Quarterfinals Predictions:
Region 1:
I don't foresee too much excitement at the top of the bracket here with Decorah and Columbus most likely advancing to face each other in the first round of state. Even in the match between these two, Columbus moves on with little trouble. Decorah hasn't played enough strong opponents to help in preparation for what is arguably the most decorated program in high school tennis history for Iowa. Columbus will be back in the semi-finals.
Region 2:
What is easily the most intriguing region of the bracket, there are four teams that have a legit shot at reaching the final four. Spirit Lake leads the pack and is looking to get back to the final four and improve upon their finish last year. They will have to get through Spencer, who they beat 6-3 and 5-4 this year, can they do it a third time. Kuemper and Clarke have been big surprises this season and are on pace to play each other for a quarterfinals berth. I am going to take Spirit Lake over Kuemper but with a lot of exciting matches all over this region.
Region 3:
Two-time defending champion Xavier resides in the top half of region three and won't have really any trouble making it back to the semi-finals. The bottom half gives us a potential rematch of Red Oak and Clarinda, where Clarinda won the dual match in the regular season 8-1. Red Oak has been a mainstay the past number of years and seems to have taken a tumble this season. With how lopsided the first encounter was, give me Clarinda winning again, but Xavier walking into the semi-finals.
Region 4:
I think this section of the bracket could be fairly smooth where Pella and Assumption meet up to make the final four. These two teams are very interesting in the sense that Pella has played nobody all year, and Assumption resides in the MAC and has to play 2A teams and the likes of Pleasant Valley & Bettendorf. Difficult to tell how good these teams really are which makes this potential matchup so interesting. I'll take Pella in a very tight match.
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