West captures state doubles again

CEDAR RAPIDS - For the second straight year, Iowa City West claimed the Class 2A state boys' tennis doubles championship.

But this time around, the Trojans did it with a new duo.

The West doubles team of senior Karl Wenzel and junior David DiLeo took down the fourth-seeded Linn-Mar pair of Brady Anderson - the 2013 singles champion - and Trevor McCann in a three-set battle, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. The Lion duo upset the No. 1 seeded Iowa City West doubles team of Adam Dellos and Trent Schneider to make it to the championship bout Saturday afternoon.

The Trojans had four groups of finalists in Saturday's festivities - the two doubles teams, alongside singles players Blake Oetting - a member of 2013's doubles championship team - and Jiung Jung. Oetting took second, falling to Waukee freshman Alex Brown in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4.

'I think it's been one of the best weekends for a school in Iowa state tennis history,” West Coach Mitch Gross said. 'It's so exciting, it's a testament to all the hard work the boys put in. What's crazy is that this is my No. 3 team. Karl and David play No. 3 doubles, that shows how good of a team we are.”

The Trojans took the first set from Lions in convincing fashion, but Linn-Mar battled back and trounced the West duo in the following set. With the momentum pointing in favor of the Lions, Gross said he sat his pair down for a meeting and then let their rackets do the rest.

'I thought the first set we played very strong and aggressive,” Gross said. 'We were very tentative, a little complacent in the second set. We had a little tongue lashing meeting in between the second and third sets and we got on going, came out on fire playing aggressive which is what you have to do to win a state championship.”

And obviously, his players listened to what he had to say.

'That was an important set in shutting them out and taking the enthusiasm out of them,” Wenzel said. 'On hot days like this, it's about breaking their spirits a little bit. It's about having more momentum and more energy.”

The state team championships are Tuesday in Ankeny. West comes in as the reigning state champions the past two years. The squad could make history and be the first team to win three straight state team titles.

'Our theme all year has been making history,” Gross said. 'We want to be the first team to win three straight championships at the 2A level, and I think if we perform the way we did this weekend we have a really good chance to do that.”

l Comments: ben.ross@thegazettecompany.com