2025 Girls Team Regionals Preview
- Iowa Tennis
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Postseason 2025 is in full swing and next up is the girls team regionals. All teams have a shot in claiming a state title and the road begins on Friday 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 less than 24 hours!
2A Team Regionals
State Quarterfinals Prediction
Region 1:
Not a ton of action here in the first region. Top ranked Waukee Northwest are the heavy favorites to move through this bracket and begin their quest for a program first team title in 2025. The matchup of this regional is going to be Bettendorf against North Scott. The Bulldogs took the regular season match 6-3 between the two, as there were a number of close matches with Bettendorf winning at 5 and 6 in super tiebreaks. Expecting another close encounter between these two, but I will predict Bettendorf again by the thinnest of margins.
Region 2:
The gold standard of the 2020s, second ranked Dowling Catholic has a nice path to continue their consecutive seasons reaching the final four. The defending champs would take on Marshalltown most likely for a berth to the quarterfinals, and while I think the Maroons should get through, I think this is an intriguing matchup against undefeated Marshalltown. The Bobcats strength of schedule isn't quite the same, but they have their top doubles pair heading to the individual state tournament coming up and are ready to see what they can do against Dowling. The bottom half here should feature #6 Dubuque Hempstead and #7 Iowa City West in a battle for the quarterfinals. The Women of Troy won the regular season meeting, but stumbled suffering a loss to CR Washington last week of the regular season. The Mustangs, who probably should be placed in a different regional, with Bettendorf for a shot at the quarters, are a tough out team. They suffer you with made ball after made ball after made ball. In an instant classic, I will take Iowa City West, insanely close this time though.
Region 3:
Pretty standard region here led by #3 ranked Valley. The Tigers will likely get a rematch with Linn-Mar where they got the better of the Lions 8-1 in the regular season. Other than maybe some tight moments in this one, Vally should be moving on to another state tournament appearance. Presuming Pleasant Valley and Waterloo West both win their opening matches, this matchup could get spicy. Waterloo West has been playing well as of recent, and led by their top doubles pair Begic/Christensen along with sophomore Janet Toe. These three will have to put a lot of points on the board for the Wahawks as the Spartans depth is going to be very tough to play against. If these three can play very well, don't be too surprised on a potential upset alert. I have PV getting through this one for a quarterfinal spot.
Region 4:
In what I would consider the most competitive region, there are four teams here that have been ranked at some point in the top ten this year by the Iowa HS Rankings or the coaches poll. #4 Johnston leads the charge. They are the CIML champions who took down Waukee Northwest, Dowling and Valley all 6-5 in the CIML 11 match format. Unfortunately, they lost all three of those duals 5-4 with state scoring. What I know is, the Dragons can play, and have a core younger group helping push that charge along with #1 player and senior Sidney Peterson. In a matchup with CR Washington we would think, Johnston will probably be a little too strong, but they do not want to overlook the Warriors who just took down Iowa City West last week. The bottom half will probably give us #5 Clinton and Cedar Falls. Clinton has been ranked in the top five all season, they have taken care of business over in the MAC, but their SOS is weaker than Cedar Falls, CR Washington and Johnston. Keep an eye on how they handle some tougher opponents over the next week, but that being said, their depth up and down is going to bring trouble for opponents. Oh and they have top five player in Sescie Haan at the top of the lineup. Cedar Falls has had quite a great year, especially after the loss to Mackenzie Sagers due to injury for the whole season coming into this thing. They battled hard at the toughest individual regional on Monday and got three players to the state tournament. I think Clinton is going to be a little too much overall, but the Tigers will make life difficult for as long as they can.
State Quarterfinals Predictions:
Region 1:
Top ranked Cedar Rapids Xavier will roll through region number one with minimal trouble. The Saints qualified all their entries to the singles and doubles state tournaments for the first time in program history and are showing no signs of slowing down. They want back in the winners circle at the end of the season as a team. Led by defending state champion and potentially the best player in Iowa in either division, Gabi Fleming. Their opponent in the quarterfinals? I am taking St. Edmond. I was high on them entering the season, they defeated Aplington-Parkersburg along the way this spring, and just had a sneaky 6-3 win over #2 Kuemper this last week that went under the radar. Not a stud at the top, but this team has a solid lineup top to bottom, and Lauren Gibb has been in the top ten rankings much of the year. I think they will get either Spencer or Spirit Lake for a trip to the quarterfinals. From my research, St. Edmond has never made the team state tournament on the girls side. A trip to it would cap off a tremendous season for the Gaels.
Region 2:
All of a sudden, region two got quite interesting. #2 ranked Kuemper just suffered a loss to St. Edmond going into the postseason, and then we have #5 Clarinda and #7 Sergeant Bluff-Luton in the bottom half together. Kuemper is still my pick to reach the state quarterfinals from the top half here. Who they will face will be interesting to see between two of the top seven teams. The coaches have not been high on SBL this season, I think they are a tough team however. I also think Clarinda is a tough team. Both of these programs have probably been overshadowed this spring with weaker SOS compared to some of the others in the top ten. A golden opportunity for both programs to fight for a spot in the state tournament and have a crack against likely Kuemper. Really do think this one can go either way, and I am going to take Clarinda by a razor thin margin. Hot take of this preview? The winner of this will defeat Kuemper and reach the final four.
Region 3:
Foreseeing a lot of green as this region moves along. #4 ranked Pella nad #9 ranked Columbus would be my picks to reach the quarterfinal and face off for a final four berth. Pella, the defending state champions, lost a number of players to graduation. How has that worked out? Quite well for the Dutch who have put together a strong season led by dual sport athlete Claire Smock. A younger group of players have answered the bell and can really show the rest of the field they are here to stay and be a force at the end of the season. You can never count out the Sailors though. They are the most decorated tennis program in all of Iowa high school tennis history. In one of their more weaker years, they have still done fairly well. The match everyone is waiting for is to see Smock and Kate Holton play. They have been ranked in the top three all year and would be the closest to challenge Fleming for a singles crown.
Region 4:
#3 Decorah kind of came out of nowhere this spring. They burst onto the scene finishing runner up at the Top Gun invite in Waterloo only to 2A #5 Clinton, and have kept the momentum going the rest of the year. The Vikings are led by sisters Olivia and Grace Huinker, who are state doubles qualifiers, and look to lead Decorah to the final four and shot at a team championship. On the other half of the region, new kid on the block Dike New Hartford will push for a second consecutive state berth. The Wolverines are coming off their first trip to the state tournament in program history, which showed them upsetting Central DeWitt in the process to get to the final four in 2024. Only one dual loss on the year, DNH is still sneaky tough. Presuming these two meet in the quarterfinals, I have the Vikings depth prevailing in a final four berth at stake.
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