Time to round out the 2022 season! Girls team state final four commences this Wednesday at Waukee Northwest and Waveland respectively. Dowling and Xavier enter the field as the top seeds and both are big favorites to claim another team crown. Last weekend was a great couple of days with the singles and doubles state tournaments, a lot of good tennis in a short amount of time and new champions were decided. Enjoy some tennis this week as the 2022 edition of Iowa HS Tennis comes to a close.
2022 Team State Tournament Notes Locations 2A: Waukee Northwest High School (Waukee, IA) 1A: Waveland Tennis Center (Des Moines, IA) Attendance Fees The IGHSAU is charging an admission fee of $10 per day of the individual state tournament and team state tournament on June 1. For more information, please visit: https://ighsau.org/news/2022-state-tennis-meet-central/ Live Brackets IGHSAU as they are great with planning and running their tournaments, paired with Bound for live brackets will be a great resource for all of us that may not be able to make it out to watch! I will be tweeting out results match by match as I get them with real time updates. 2A/1A Individual Brackets 2A Semi-Finals #1 Dowling v #4 CR Washington Dowling Breakdown: The most dominant team in Iowa this spring from top to bottom and the defending team champs...here come the Maroons. Allison Szalay finished runner-up in singles while the duo of Ava Petersen & Mackenzie Klein finished runner-up in doubles for a second straight year. A very successful individual state tournament for Dowling sets them up well heading into Wednesday and this is one of the best Dowling teams in recent memory, probably stronger than last year as a whole. The Maroons are the overwhelming favorite to repeat their title. CR Washington Breakdown: A lot of exciting things as of recent for the Warriors who are in final four for the first time since 2015 where they finished 3rd. Kathryn Zylstra and Katelynn avenged a crushing semi-final loss a year ago to Dowling and defeated them in the finals this year to be crowned state champions. Along with the state champs, Washington had another doubles pair and Mya Messenger competing in the doubles and singles fields respectfully. The Warriors narrowly fell to Cedar Falls in the regular season which seemed to be the difference for a shot to take on Valley in the semi-finals. Oh by the way, congrats to Head Coach Brandon Hornback and his team on qualifying for the CrossFit Games! Not only is the team winning, the coach is winning too and they look to try and play spoiler this week. Prediction: Dowling def. CR Washington 5-1 #2 Valley vs #3 Cedar Falls Valley Breakdown: Claire Gu brought the singles crown home for the Tigers this past weekend avenging a loss to Szalay of Dowling in the state title rematch from last year. Along with Gu, Maddie Hockmuth and Elaine Wang finished 7th on the doubles side and they had another duo in the doubles draw as well. It has been over 10 years from what I can see since Valley has been in the final for with the last time coming in 2011 where they were 4th. A very good and steady team all year will have their hands full with Cedar Falls from the jump. Cedar Falls Breakdown: Cedar Falls took a thrilling 5-4 win over CR Wash during the regular season helping them earn the 3 seed and a shot against Valley. Maya Mallavarapu leads to charge and holds down the number one spot, she just finished 3rd at state singles too. This is going to be a very close meet and the Tigers depth need to show up and show out to pull off the upset. Prediction: Valley def. Cedar Falls 5-3 Finals Prediction: Dowling def. Valley 5-2 1A Semi-Finals #1 Xavier vs #4 Assumption Xavier Breakdown: Two-time defending team state champions are back and have their eyes on a three-peat. Deja-vu? The Xavier Girls have a chance to go for the triple crown the year on Wednesday like their fellow boys team does the day before. The Saints swept the singles and doubles titles this past week with Ella Tallett emerging victorious in the singles draw and Ally Burger/Courtney Carstensen capturing their second state doubles crown. In what I think is the strongest team in 1A this year, this is Xavier's title to lose. It's difficult getting to the top, but it is even more difficult staying at the top. Assumption Breakdown: Looking on the far east side of the state, Davenport Assumption I think is a team this spring that has been overlooked a little bit, and even by me. They have a tough schedule in a 2A dominant conference of Pleasant Valley and Bettendorf and took a few more losses than some other teams, but that will happen. Regionals came around and they came to play. A trio in Mary Rolfstad, Allison Halligan and Ella Dilulio represented the Knights this past week Halligan/Dilulio finishing as doubles runner-ups and Rolfstad claiming an 8th place singles finish. Last time Assumption was in the final four was 2013 with a 3rd place result. Prediction: Xavier def. Assumption 5-0 #2 Columbus vs #3 Spirit Lake Columbus Breakdown: With the departure of 2021 singles state champion Sasha Hyacinth to Waterloo West, Columbus found themselves with a big challenge ahead in 2022. The Sailors had a quartet of players in the individual state tournaments this year with Alli Hagness (3rd) and Sophia Fain (5th) on the singles side, and then Chole Butler and Avery Hogan (3rd) represented in the doubles field. In maybe what was an underperformed singles and doubles state tournaments this season by Coach Will's standards, Columbus will hope to have history on their side in a quest for the team title this week. Spirit Lake Breakdown: The Indians have had a strong season this year with only one loss coming at the hands of #2 Columbus and they only faced one other ranked team which came in regionals in a win over Kuemper. Catherine Straus put together a nice singles tournament over the last couple of days and finished 4th, an improvement on her 6th place finish in 2021, and the team also had a duo qualify in the doubles tournament. Spirit Lake will really have to bring something special to get through their semi-final. Prediction: Columbus def. Spirit Lake 5-0 Finals Prediction: Xavier def. Columbus 5-1
Good luck everyone!
-Iowa HS Tennis
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