Iowa high school boys’ state tennis Day 1: Prairie’s Anthony Schulte back in the 2A semifinals

IOWA CITY — Anthony Schulte is hoping to make the most of a second chance.

The Cedar Rapids Prairie junior posted two dominant wins on Tuesday in the Class 2A boys’ state tennis tournament at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Center, advancing to the semifinals against a nemesis from last year’s state meet.

Schulte opened with an impressive 6-0, 6-0 win over Ankeny’s Dylan Victor, then downed North Scott’s Lucas Persson, 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.

His reward? A rematch with Waukee's Quinn Monson in the semifinals on Wednesday. Schulte fell, 2-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-5) to Monson in the third-place match at state last year.

“I think (Schulte) has done a great job dealing with a little extra pressure after his fourth-place finish last year,” Prairie Coach Eric Modracek said. “In a lot of ways, he’s much more prepared to compete with the top guys compared to last year.”

The other semifinal will pit top seed and defending champion Kaden Taylor of Waukee Northwest against No. 4 seed Micah Flaherty of Fort Dodge. Both advanced with easy straight-set wins.

Modracek believes the improvement in Schulte’s overall game will show on Wednesday.

“His serve and forehand have improved a lot,” Modracek said. “That being said, the other guys in the semis are also really good. It should be a monster final four (on Wednesday).”

Gazette-area schools have two of the four doubles semifinalists. Linn-Mar’s top team of Malcolm Rice and Garrett Bauermeister rolled to a pair of impressive wins. The Lion duo, seeded third, dropped just four games in their two matches and will meet unseeded Sean Sonoiki and Gavin Leuck of Waukee Northwest.

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The Northwest duo took out No. 2 seed Beck Sissel and Luke Berg of West Des Moines Valley in the first round, then won in a third-set tiebreaker in the quarterfinals.

Iowa City West’s Patrick Selby and Samir Singh, the No. 4 seed also rolled to a pair of impressive wins on Tuesday. They will meet the top-seeded duo of Kellan Croatt and Jake Nelson of Waukee Northwest, which had to rally from a set down in the quarterfinals to defeat Pleasant Valley’s Armann Bhadwat and Jatin Kodavatiganti.

Cedar Rapids Jefferson freshman Parker Holland and Iowa City High’s Abhay Anil lost in the quarterfinals, but won consolation matches to advance to play on Wednesday. Linn-Mar’s doubles team of Jake Wallrichs and Jackson Kramer lost a tough three-set match in the opening round to the Pleasant Valley team, but won a pair of consolation matches and will also be in action on Wednesday.

Consolation play begins at 9:30 a.m. with semifinal matches set for 10 a.m.

Play in Class 1A at Waterloo was delayed one day because of weather. First-round matches will now start Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Byrnes Park with consolation rounds, semifinals and finals to be played on Thursday.