2025 Girls Team State Preview

Time to round out the 2024 season! Girls team state final four commences tomorrow at Waukee Northwest and Byrnes Park respectively. Dowling and Xavier 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 2024 edition of Iowa HS Tennis comes to a close.

2025 Team State Tournament Notes

Locations   

2A: Waukee Northwest High School (Waukee, IA)

1A: Pella High School (Pella, IA)

Attendance Fees

Attendance Fees

The IGHSAU is charging an admission fee of $10 per day of the individual state tournament and team state tournament on June 2. For more information, please visit: https://www.gobound.com/ia/ighsau/girlstennis/2024-25/tickets

Live Results

The state will be entering results as matches come off. Updated brackets throughout the tournament can be found here: Postseason HQ. Also make sure to follow twitter as I will post results as quick as I can!

2A Semi-Finals

#1 Waukee Northwest v #4 Johnston

Waukee Northwest Breakdown: The first trip to the final four in this programs young history. Waukee Northwest will make their debut in the team semi-finals tomorrow morning for the first time, taking on a familiar foe in Johnston. The Wolves captured their first meeting 5-4, while being down a few players. At their full strength, we saw what this team can do when they beat Dowling 8-1 towards the end of the season. The Wolves had a banner individual tournament this weekend with London Taylor/Mia Deines placing runner-up in the doubles draw. They also had all of their entries qualify for state as well. Some early nerves and pressue may get this team off their game early, but if they can push through that and stay composed, it will be a tall order to take down this team.

Johnston Breakdown: A tremendous season out of the Dragons, as they captured the CIML title this season. Johnston is led by their top two players in Sidney Peterson and freshman Brianna Launderville. Peterson and partner Zoey Studer finished fifth in doubles yesterday, while Launderville took home a 7th place singles finish in her state debut. The Dragons have shown they have great depth, as noted in their 6-5 CIML scoring wins over Dowling, Waukee NW and Valley, the other 3 teams remaining. They will have to continue to be strong in the lower part of the lineup, and steal a couple of wins in the upper half to pull off the upset for a championship berth.

Prediction: Waukee Northwest def. Johnston 5-1

#2 Dowling vs #3 Valley

Valley Breakdown: Valley has been the epitome of consistent the last few years, and a mainstay in the final four it seems. The Tigers lost bright young star Lexi Moen to Waukee NW, but many players have stepped up and filled the void nicely. Sophie Tannenbaum was a singles qualifier for Valley this weekend at state, as well as freshman Kaitlyn Nguyen. The best part about this team? Is they lose nobody to graduation after tomorrow. A young and hungry team that narrowly fell to Dowling the first time around. Valley is going to need to be at their best to take down the defending champs.

Dowling Breakdown: Defending champs made it back to the final four and have been the gold standard for Iowa girls tennis in the 2020s. The Maroons boast the newly 2-time state doubles champions in Grace Frye and Juju Mauro. Along with them is a strong lineup of players including doubles state qualifiers Payton Blume/Maddy Pierron as well as singles qualifier Victoria Bakros. Dowling knows what it takes to get to the top of the mountain, and how hard it is to stay there. A tough task to begin the day tomorrow.

Prediction: Dowling def. Valley 5-4

Finals Prediction:

Waukee Northwest def. Dowling 5-3

1A Semi-Finals

#1 Xavier vs #4 Kuemper

Xavier Breakdown: Xavier returns to the final four for the second straight season, after falling by the narrowest of margins in the title match a year ago. Led by the newly two-time singles champion in Gabi Fleming, the Saints enter the matches tomorrow as strong favorites to capture the team crown. Isabel Tobin and Ruby Smith also teamed up to win the doubles championship yesterday. Add in the rest of the lineup, and this team is among the best regardless of the divisions this season. Highlighted by a win over 2A #2 Dowling 5-4 earlier this spring, the Saints are trying to get back to the top of the team title mountain, and complete the coveted triple crown.

Kuemper Breakdown: Kuemper has reached the state tournament two years in a row now, and this time, improved on their quarterfinal appearance in 2024. A team that returned the most among a lot of teams from last year, is faced with a tough task in Xavier right away. The Knights claimed a 5th place singles finish with Kaylie Simons this past weekend, and took home a 7th place finish in doubles to go along with it. Kuemper got past a tough SBL team in the quarterfinal round to get here. Something noteworthy to mention is that they lost to St. Edmond in the last meet of the regular season.

Prediction: Xavier def. Kuemper 5-0

#2 Pella vs #3 Decorah

Pella Breakdown: Defending champs are back in the final four! This is the 6th team state appearance for Pella, all coming since the spring of 2017. Five starters graduated from that championship team, and many, including myself, did not think they would be in this position here tomorrow. But many players stepped up, including 3rd place singles finisher Claire Smock, to carry on the strong program the Dutch have become the last few years. They get a scrappy Decorah team out of the gate, in a match I think will be down to the wire.

Decorah Breakdown: A little bit of a surprise to see the Vikings here if you asked me in March. Decorah has quietly taken care of business here in 2025, and got themselves in prime position to get to the title match. The Huinker sisters rounded out a strong individual season with a 3rd place finish in doubles. They, along with their teammates, now turn their focus on the defending champion Pella Dutch. A singles lead going into doubles will be critical.

Prediction: Decorah def. Pella 5-4

Finals Prediction:

Xavier def. Decorah 5-1

Good luck everyone!