No. 1 Iowa City West, Cedar Rapids Xavier dominate in boys’ tennis substate finals, state quarterfinals

About the only thing that held up Iowa City West and Cedar Rapids Xavier on Wednesday was a little early rain.

The state's two top-ranked boys’ tennis teams had to wait out some early morning weather, but once they hit the court, both were dominant, earning state semifinal berths.

West started indoors at the Clark Racquet Center on the Coe campus, rolling past Mason City in the substate final. The Trojans then had to wait out a marathon dual that saw Cedar Rapids Washington outlast in-town rival Jefferson, 5-4, in its substate final at the Veterans Memorial Tennis Center.

The state's No. 1 Class 2A team then wasted little time rolling to a 5-0 win over the Warriors in the state quarterfinal round.

Xavier was delayed by rain in its 1A matches at South Tama, but was just as impressive. Coach Jim Potts’ team blew past both Grinnell and Boone by identical 5-0 scores, earning the right to defend its state title on May 31 in Des Moines.

The toughest thing for West on Wednesday was the lengthy wait between the end of its first match around 10 a.m. until the start of its state quarterfinal just before 5 p.m.

“It was a little bit of a reverse from last year when we had a marathon match of almost seven hours,” said Trojans first-year coach Marshal Moellers. “It was interesting watching the guys react to watching Washington and Jefferson play.

“They were interested in what was going on in that match, but they were also thinking about their next match. They had a lot of down time and handled it well."

As has been the case all year, the Trojans did not lose a match in their two duals.

“That's a credit to the kids,” Moellers said. “I'm lucky to get to coach such a great group.”

The state berth for Washington was a bit unlikely. Coach Tom Neff's Warriors were a third seed, needing to win a substate preliminary match at Bettendorf last week before knocking off Jefferson on Wednesday.

“We're very proud of our young men,” Neff said. “We are a young team that continued to grow and get better throughout the year. I give a lot of credit to Jefferson. They are a great team and both teams played hard throughout a long day.”

For Xavier in its two matches at South Tama, the consistency that has carried it throughout the season was key.

Potts had words of praise for the play of Ryan Schmit, who won a pair of 6-0, 6-2 decisions.

“He really played well today in both of his matches,” Potts said. “He has been playing really well the last couple of weeks and it continued today.”

Linn-Mar and Decorah both earned state quarterfinal berths, but were unable to make it to the state semifinals.

At Muscatine, the No. 5 Lions blanked North Scott in the substate final, 5-0. However, Linn-Mar could not sustain the momentum, falling 5-0 to No. 2 Pleasant Valley in the state quarterfinals.

In Class 1A play at Waverly, Decorah blanked Marion, 5-0, in the substate final before falling 5-3 to Dubuque Wahlert in a hard-fought state quarterfinal match.

Class 1A boys’ tennis

Substate final at South Tama

Cedar Rapids Xavier 5, Grinnell 0

Singles: Brady Horstmann (X) def. Calvin Jawarski, 6-2, 6-4; Declan Coe (X) def. Alex Smith 6-1, 6-1; Ryan Schmit (X) def. Cole Johnson 6-0, 6-2, Hugh Courter (X) def. Braden Blackford 6-0, 6-1, Trenton Link def. Tanner Bash, 6-0, 6-1.

Substate final at Waverly

Decorah 5, Marion 0

Singles: Caden Branum (D) def. Seth Blackford 6-3, 6-1; Daniel Skrade (D) def. Donny Long 6-0, 6-2; Brendan Hunter (D) def. Jay Dunlavey 6-3, 6-1; Michael Njus (D) def. Ethan Hangartner 6-4, 6-2; Liam Chamberlain (D) def, Garret Baxa, 6-4, 6-1.

State quarterfinal at South Tama

Cedar Rapids Xavier 5, Boone 0

Singles: Brady Horstmann (X) def. Cody Overland, 6-0, 6-2; Ryan Schmit (X) def. Jake Judge, 6-0, 6-2, Hugh Courter (X) def. Matt Zimmerman, 6-0, 6-0, Trenton Link (X) def. Wes Baber, 6-4, 6-0, Quincey Johnson (C) def. Ashton Thiges, 6-2, 6-1.

State quarterfinal at Waverly

Dubuque Wahlert 5, Decorah 3

Singles: Caden Branum (D) def. Jack Freiburger 6-3, 6-4; Roan Martineau (DW) def. Daniel Skrade 6-2, 6-0, Nolan Martineau (DW) def. Landon Baker, 6-1, 6-2; Josh Conlon (DW) def, Brendan Hunter 6-2, 6-3, Charlie Curtiss (DW) def. Michael Njus 7-5, 6-3, Liam Chamberlain (D) def. Gabe Intrilligator 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Doubles: Freiburger-R. Martineau (DW) def. Branum-Skrade 6-1, 6-2, Baker-Hunter (D) def. N. Martineau-Curtiss (DW), 6-3, 6-3

Class 2A boys’ tennis

Substate final at Veterans Memorial Tennis Center

Iowa City West 5, Mason City 0

Singles: Luca Chackalackal (ICW) def. Reed Kruger, 6-1, 6-1, Seth Smigel (ICW) def. Justin Yarahmadi 6-0, 6-0; Jayden Shin (ICW) def. Zack Mullholland, 6-0, 6-0, Samir Singh (ICW) def. Lane Kruger, 6-1, 6-1; Jonathan Fan (ICW) def. Sander Tompkins 6-2, 6-0

Substate final at Veterans Memorial Tennis Center

Cedar Rapids Washington 5, Cedar Rapids Jefferson 4

Singles: Nick Burkamper (W) def. Caleb Suiter 1-6, 6-2, 6-1, Logan Miller (J) def. Colton Eilers 6-2, 6-3, Logan Sherman (W) def. Jacob Strain 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, Landon Augustine (J) def,, Lucas Burkamper 7-6, 2-6, 7-5; Austin Nagel (J) def. Brock Davis 7-6, 6-3; Logan Augustine (W) def. Preston Haefner 7-5, 6-4

Doubles: N. Burkamper-Eilers def. Suiter-Strain 6-2, 6-3; Miller-Lo. Augustine def. Davis-Slade White 6-3, 6-4, Sherman-Haefner (W) def. Nagel-La.Augustine 6-1, 3-6, 7-5

Substate final at Eldridge

Linn-Mar 5, North Scott 0

No match scores reported

State quarterfinal at Veterans Memorial Tennis Center

Iowa City West 5, Cedar Rapids Washington 0

Singles: Seth Smigel (ICW) def. Colton Eilers 6-0, 6-1; Jayden Shin (ICW) def. Logan Sherman, 6-0, 6-0, Samir Singh (ICW) def. Lucas Burkamper, 6-0, 6-0; Jonathan Fan (ICW) def. Brock Davis 6-2, 6-0; Shivy Mannengi (ICW) def. Preston Haefner 6-2, 6-2

State quarterfinal at North Scott

Pleasant Valley 5, Linn-Mar 0

Singles: Jake Dolphin (PV) def. Ayush Kalia, 6-0, 6-1; Brady Adams (PV) def. Malcolm Rice, 6-1, 6-0; Nathan Barlow (PV) def. Jake Wallrichs 6-1, 6-1; Folu Adekunle (PV) def. Zach Mersch 6-4, 6-2; Mazen Alsheikha (PV) def. Jackson Kramer, 6-2, 7-5.