Cedar Rapids Washington’s Sherman, King shake early struggles, surge to state semifinals

CEDAR RAPIDS – When Hannah Sherman feels her tennis game going south, it's time to check her feet.

The Cedar Rapids Washington junior and her doubles partner, Kelly King, entered the Class 2A girls' tennis state tournament seeded fourth, but were mired in a first-round tussle with Mississippi Valley Conference rivals Madie Renner and Anna Postnikov of Cedar Rapids Prairie.

'A lot of the times I won't realize how lazy I'm actually being until I realize, 'When's the last time I picked up my feet?,'' Sherman said. 'Then we started moving and we were able to pull it together and get the win.'

Sherman and King outlasted the Prairie pair, 7-5, 6-4, then breezed to the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-1 ouster of Lauren Hoffart and Kelsie Peterson from West Des Moines Valley Thursday at Veterans Memorial Tennis Center.

'We just got a little tight in the beginning,' King said. 'We just needed to get that out of our system. … For sure moving our feet and just hitting with some pace and spin always helps. Working together, also on setting each other up for points so we can put it away.'

Both girls felt the early struggles were normal state-tournament jitters, but their performances demonstrated a lot of toughness given the fact they took the court just 12 hours removed from competing in Washington's double-overtime regional final soccer loss.

'Almost every morning after a soccer game you feel like death,' Sherman said with a laugh. 'We just have to brush it off. It's a new day, a different sport.'

This is the second year in a row Sherman has reached the doubles semifinals. Friday, she and King (12-2) will face undefeated and top-seeded Jaci Cochrane and Beth Murman of Fort Dodge in a 10 a.m. semifinal.

On the opposite side of the doubles bracket stands Prairie's Magui Caro and Vale Caro (16-0), who also won a pair of matches and advanced to Friday's semifinal.

The Caro sisters entered the state tournament as the No. 2 seed and were pushed in the first set of a 6-4, 6-0 first-round victory over Innes Hicsasmaz and Lucy Wagner of Iowa City High, then quickly dispatched Clinton's Samantha Brisch and Riley Hubbart, 6-0, 6-3, in the quarterfinal.

'Considering it's our final year, I think we're just out to get it,' senior Magui Caro said. 'We're playing as best as we can, doing as best as we can. Hopefully we end up doing pretty good.'

In Friday's consolation brackets, Emma Koch of Iowa City West and Linn-Mar's Ellie Anderson are two of four singles players vying for fifth place, while Susanna Gianola and Bihotza James of Iowa City High will fight for fifth in doubles.

CLASS 2A GIRLS' TENNIS STATE TOURNAMENT

At Cedar Rapids

(Veterans Memorial Tennis Center)

FIRST ROUND

Singles —

No. 1 Lily Feldman (Pleasant Valley) def. Elizabeth Messman (Waukee), 6-0, 6-0; No. 2 Davi Patterson (Boone) def. Anna Wanek (West Des Moines Dowling), 6-0, 6-1; No. 3 Chloe Jefferies (West Des Moines Valley) def. Gretta Leigh (Fort Dodge), 6-0, 6-2; No. 4 Emma Koch (Iowa City West) def. Karleigh Schilling (Cedar Rapids Prairie), 6-0, 6-1; Lauren Couves (Ames) def. Hannah Borgh (Bettendorf), 2-6, 6-2, 6-4; Alex Kozlowski (Des Moines Roosevelt) def. Abby Reis (Urbandale), 6-2, 6-1; Emilia Porubcin (Bettendorf) def. Hannah Humes (Pleasant Valley), 6-1, 6-2; Ellie Anderson (Linn-Mar) def. Joyce Sun (Dubuque Hempstead), 6-4, 6-3.

Doubles —

No. 1 Jaci Cochrane/Beth Murman (Fort Dodge) def. Lauren Pinchuk/Allie Pinchuk (Dubuque Senior), 6-0, 6-0; No. 2 Magui Caro/Vale Caro (Cedar Rapids Prairie) def. Innes Hicsasmaz/Lucy Wagner (Iowa City High), 6-4, 6-0; No. 3 Cari Naaneep/Isabelle Hoppenjans (Johnston) def. Hannah Schwartz/Jamie Zhang (Ames), 6-2, 6-0; No. 4 Kelly King/Hannah Sherman (Cedar Rapids Washington) def. Madie Renner/Anna Postnikov (Cedar Rapids Prairie), 7-5, 6-4; Susanna Gianola/Bihotza James (Iowa City High) def. Jackie Kaiser/Brooke Dannenfeldt (Urbandale), 7-6, 6-3; Lauren Hoffart/Kelsie Peterson (West Des Moines Valley) def. Anna Corell/Olivia Feldman (West Des Moines Dowling), 4-6, 6-2, 6-4; Emily Nutt/Roshni Penmatcha (Pleasant Valley) def. Maddie Trow/Emma Kohls (Urbandale), 6-7, 6-3, 6-4; Samantha Brisch/Riley Hubbart (Clinton) def. Angelynn Chleborad/Madi Anderson (West Des Moines Dowling), 7-5, 6-2.

QUARTERFINALS

Singles —

No. 1 Lily Feldman (Pleasant Valley) def. Lauren Couves (Ames), 6-1, 6-2; No. 2 Davi Patterson (Boone) def. Ellie Anderson (Linn-Mar), 6-1, 6-3; Emilia Porubcin (Bettendorf) def. No. 3 Chloe Jefferies (West Des Moines Valley), 6-2, 6-2; def. Gretta Leigh (Fort Dodge), 6-0, 6-2; Alex Kozlowski (Des Moines Roosevelt) def. No. 4 Emma Koch (Iowa City West), 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles —

No. 1 Jaci Cochrane/Beth Murman (Fort Dodge) def. Susanna Gianola/Bihotza James (Iowa City High), 6-2, 6-1; No. 2 Magui Caro/Vale Caro (Cedar Rapids Prairie) def. Samantha Brisch/Riley Hubbart (Clinton), 6-0, 6-3; No. 3 Cari Naaneep/Isabelle Hoppenjans (Johnston) def. Emily Nutt/Roshni Penmatcha (Pleasant Valley), 6-2, 6-0; No. 4 Kelly King/Hannah Sherman (Cedar Rapids Washington) def. Lauren Hoffart/Kelsie Peterson (West Des Moines Valley), 6-2, 6-1.

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com