Iowa City West sweeps Class 2A tennis

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Iowa City West boys' tennis team wrote an entire chapter in its school's history book on Thursday by winning the singles, doubles and overall team score in the Class 2A District meet.

It was the first time in head coach Mitch Gross' 13 years his team had swept all three singles, doubles and teams titles at districts. The Trojans (15-0, 12-0 MCV) are working on three consecutive state titles.

'It fulfills one of our goals, which is to send every entry to the state tournament,” Gross said. 'You work hard for this part of the season, and it's nice to see hard work paying off.”

The Trojans were close to three-straight once before in 2005 and 2006, but fell short in 2007.

Senior Blake Oetting won the singles championship by default after teammate and opponent freshman Jiung Jung forfeited with leg cramps.

The success of the West boys' tennis team, Oetting said, has come from depth and the ability to play some of the best players in the state, day after day in practice.

With graduation and summer just around the corner, Oetting said the biggest challenge facing the team isn't another opponent.

'The biggest challenge will be our own focus,” Oetting said. 'The only thing left (after graduation) is to worry about is tennis. Everybody cares more about the team than their own individual success, and that's been a constant for all four years.”

Seniors Trent Schneider and Adam Dellos defeated their teammates junior David DiLeo and senior Karl Wenzel in the doubles championship match.

Schneider said there's no time to relax because a day off could mean any other team in the Mississippi Valley Conference could overthrow potential chances at another state title for West.

'It's not easy to one state title in the first place, and it's hard enough to defend it,” Dellos said. 'We have our goals as a team, it's just how well we can we prepare to get ourselves to that (third state title).”

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