Wash girls gut out team state opener

CEDAR RAPIDS - The defending state champion will get its chance to defend.

The Cedar Rapids Washington girls' tennis team broke a 3-3 deadlock with two doubles victories and held off gritty Cedar Rapids Prairie, 5-3, in the first round of the Class 2A girls' team state tournament Wednesday at Veterans Memorial Tennis Center.

'We've talked about winning state again,” said senior Jennifer Greif, who won in singles and doubles. 'We know we can do it.”

Singles victories from Washington sophomores Hannah Sherman and Kelly King helped send the dual to doubles tied at 3-3, but Prairie responded by claiming the first set in two of the doubles matches.

'We hoped to get out of the singles up 4-2,” first-year Washington Coach Spencer Eells said. 'But they're tough down there at five and six... The doubles didn't look good, dropping two sets. I was kind of thinking we were done.”

With two doubles teams trailing by a set, Greif and King put the Warriors on solid ground with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Karleigh Schilling and Anna Postnikov of Prairie.

'We kind of got down a little bit and started to lose a few games,” Greif said. 'And Spencer came over and was like, ‘Guys, you were playing really careful. What happened?' So we kind of went back to how we normally play.”

Needing one more match to advance, Greif and King awaited the outcome of a match involving teammates Lilly Hartman and Hannah Sherman. They were embroiled in a third-set tiebreaker with Prairie's Vale Caro and Michelle Grenn.

Hartman and Sherman rallied from a set down and sent the Warriors to the 2A semifinals, 4-6, 6-3, 10-7.

The 2A semifinals and championship are June 6 at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex. Washington (18-1) is two wins from a state championship repeat.

'That day was probably the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me,” Sherman said. 'So just thinking that we have the privilege to go for that again, it really gets me motivated.”

The other 2A dual at Vets matched unbeaten Iowa City High and Pleasant Valley. Five Little Hawks singles players dropped their first set before junior Innes Hicsasmaz and Bihotza James won third-set tiebreakers to send the dual to doubles tied at 3-3.

After a 6-1, 6-3 doubles win for Hicsasmaz and Eve Small put City High within a match of advancing, Pleasant Valley (15-0) won the final two doubles matches for a 5-4 victory.

City High ends at 18-1, and Prairie finished 13-3.

In the first round of the 1A team state tournament, Cedar Rapids Xavier advanced to the semifinals with a 5-0 victory over Burlington-Notre Dame.

STATE TEAM TOURNAMENT

Class 2A

QUARTERFINALS

C.R. Washington 5, C.R. Prairie 4

Des Moines Roosevelt 5, Ames 0

Pleasant Valley 5, Iowa City High 4

Urbandale 5, West Des Moines Dowling 3

AT VETERANS MEMORIAL TENNIS CENTER

C.R. Washington 5, C.R. Prairie 3

Singles - Vale Caro (CRP) def. Lilly Hartman, 6-1, 6-1; Hannah Sherman (CRW) def. Karleigh Schilling, 6-0, 6-1; Kelly King (CRW) def. Shannon Costigan, 6-0, 6-1; Jennifer Greif (CRW) def. Anna Postnikov, 6-0, 6-0; Michelle Grenn (CRP) def. Eliza Sundermann, 6-2, 1-6, 10-8; Lauren O'Brian (CRP) def. Laura Gibson, 6-4, 6-4.

Doubles - Hartman/Sherman (CRW) def. Caro/Grenn, 4-6, 6-3, 10-7; King/Greif (CRW) def. Schilling/Postnikov, 6-4, 7-5.

AT VETERANS MEMORIAL TENNIS CENTER

Pleasant Valley 5, Iowa City High 4

Singles - Eve Small (ICH) def. Lily Feldman, 6-1, 6-1; Innes Hicsasmaz (ICH) def. Katie Melbourne, 2-6, 6-2, 10-8; Hannah Humes (PV) def. Susanna Gianola, 6-4, 7-5; Allison Miller (PV) def. Kit Finley, 6-4, 6-0; Roshni Penmatcha (PV) def. Lucy Wagner, 6-4, 1-6, 10-2; Bihotza James (ICH) def. Emily Nutt, 1-6, 6-2, 11-9.

Doubles - Small/Hicsasmaz (ICH) def. Melbourne/Miller, 6-1, 6-3; Feldman/Penmatcha (PV) def. Gianola/James, 7-5, 6-4; Humes/Nutt (PV) def. Finley/Wagner, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.

Class 1A

QUARTERFINALS

Ballard 5, Shenandoah 2

C.R. Xavier 5, Burlington Notre Dame 0

Waverly-Shell Rock 5, Grinnell 0

AT MUSCATINE

C.R. Xavier 5, Burlington Notre Dame 0

Singles - Allison Jasper def. Stephanie Wills 6-3, 6-1; Jeanne Bouchard (CRX) vs. Jenna Stewart (BND) 4-6, 6-2 DNF; Claire Bouchard def. Carly Hoyer 7-5, 6-1; Katie Neumeyer def. Cheyenne Bolding 6-3, 6-1; Megan D'mello def. Courtney Cooper 6-0, 6-0; Nina Marquardt def. Madison Fry 6-1, 6-1.

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com