Time to round out the 2023 season! Girls team state final four commences this Tuesday at Waukee Northwest and Johnston respectively. Cedar Rapids Washington and Columbus enter the field as the top seeds. 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 2023 edition of Iowa HS Tennis comes to a close.
2022 Team State Tournament Notes
Locations
2A: Johnston High School (Johnston, IA)
1A: Waukee Northwest High School (Waukee, IA)
Attendance Fees The IGHSAU is charging an admission fee of $10 per day of the individual state tournament and team state tournament on May 30. For more information, please visit: https://www.gobound.com/ia/ighsau/girlstennis/2022-23/tickets
Live Scoring: Courtesy of the blog here at Iowa HS Tennis, there will be live scoring of the dual meets available to follow along in real time. (Like you would follow along with live stats for a college match). All the dual meets for the day can be viewed here: https://ioncourt.com/leagues/2023-iowa-girls-high-school-team-state-championship
2A Semi-Finals
CR Washington Breakdown: A lot of exciting things as of recent for the Warriors who are in final four for the second time in as many years, after a 3rd place finish in 2022. The Warriors paced through the MVC this season going undefeated in the regular season, and also a state doubles runner-up finish this past weekend for the duo of Kock/Zylstra. While Washington has the top 1-2 punch in the state, their depth can also really sneak up on you with an experienced team back in the final stages of the postseason.
Valley Breakdown: Valley showed they can compete with the best teams in the state as they earned individual state tournament finishes of 3rd in singles (Claire Gu) and 4th in doubles (Hockmuth/Moen). With just a couple of losses on the year, the Tigers return to the final four for the second straight year and coming off a runner-up finish as a team last season. Valley has a tough task ahead, but if they can force doubles, and put three points on the board in singles, things may get interesting down the stretch.
Prediction: CR Washington def. Valley 5-3
Dowling Breakdown: A very solid year for Dowling out in West Des Moines. The defending champs return as this years #2 seed in the team semi-finals hoping to show the state that they are the defending state champs for a reason. With the loss of some players from the 2022 team who were key members of that championship, there was no rebuild this year with Coach Chalstrom's squad as they really just reloaded with a talented bunch. Top player Ava Petersen is coming off a 5th place singles finish, as well as Mauro/Frye claiming 5th in doubles this past weekend at the individual state tournament.
Ankeny Centennial: 2023 marks the second time in program history that the Jaguars have qualified for the team state tournament, their first back in 2021 with an elite 8 appearance. This time, Centennial took it a step further and will play in the final four tomorrow. Abbie Peterson the top player for the Jaguars is fresh off a singles state tournament runner-up finish for her junior campaign, and along with her was Esther Guan in singles and both of their doubles entries competing at the state tournament this past weekend. Second year coach Alli Gustafson has her team in a prime position to make program history again and push for a finals berth, but they will need to knock out the defending champs to get there.
Prediction: Dowling def. Centennial 5-4
Finals Prediction:
CR Washington def. Dowling 5-4
1A Semi-Finals
Columbus Breakdown: You guessed it, the winningest program in Iowa High School Tennis history is back again in the final four, and enters the 2023 tournament as the top seed. As heavy favorites, the Sailors were the only top 4 ranked team to advance through their regional and compete tomorrow for their 22nd team state championship. All six of the Columbus players made the individual state tournament, and #1 and #2 ranked Sophia Fain and Alli Hagness battled it out in the singles title match with Fain narrowly winning at the end of a back and forth match in the third set. This is the Sailors tournament to lose this year.
Pella Breakdown: This is the 4th team state appearance for Pella, all coming since the spring of 2017. The best finish for this program was that next year in 2018 where they finished as runner-up. The Dutch have been a steady team all year with just one dual match loss to 2A Norwalk. They advanced to the final four thanks to a pair of 5-3 wins in the previous two rounds against Pella Christian and Assumption. Emily Blom has been a staple of the team since her freshman year and took 4th in singles this past weekend. They have a monster of a task in front of them in the semi-finals.
Prediction: Columbus def. Pella 5-0
Clarinda Breakdown: Clarinda advanced to the final four for the first time in program history, thanks to an upset win over Spirit Lake in a down to the wire match in the quarterfinals. This is the second trip to the state tournament for the Cardinals, last being in 2022 an elite 8 appearance. Taylor Cole and Mayson Hartley lead the way at the top of the lineup and were top eight finishers in the doubles state tournament as the #2 seeds this past weekend. Clarinda cruised through an easy schedule for the year with their only tough matches against Lewis Central and Spirit Lake.
Central DeWitt Breakdown: In their 3rd year of existence as a program, DeWitt advanced to the state tournament for the first time ever this spring, and followed that up by knocking out the defending state champions of Xavier in the elite 8. The Sabers also had individual state tournament qualifiers for the first time in Lexy Cooper in singles and Owens/Pierce in doubles. Residing in the MAC conference with the likes of 2A's Bettendorf and Pleasant Valley, a tough schedule with three losses on the year maybe gets them one step closer to even more history.
Prediction: Clarinda def. Central DeWitt 5-3
Finals Prediction:
Columbus def. Clarinda 5-0
Good luck everyone!
-Iowa HS Tennis
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