Unbeaten Linn-Mar earns boys’ state tennis berth

MARION — Jackson Kramer and Jake Wallrichs play in the middle of the Linn-Mar singles lineup.

The seniors, who will play in the state doubles tournament next week, showed Wednesday they are pretty solid singles players as well. In their final appearance on their home courts, Kramer and Wallrichs provided the exclamation points in a quick 5-0 Class 2A substate win over North Scott for the second-ranked Lions.

Wallrichs defeated the Lancers’ Doyle Lucier, 6-2, 6-2 at No. 4 singles. Moments later, Kramer secured the Lions’ seventh straight state tournament appearance, finishing off a 6-3, 6-1 win over Kellen Wenck.

“It really doesn't get old,” Kramer said. “I've been on the team for four years and we have qualified every year. It's been really nice.”

Wallrichs also has been a part of the program for four years. He took a few moments to reflect on his final match on Linn-Mar’s new courts at Oak Ridge Middle School.

“I always love these moments,” he said. “This is what I built the backbone of my career on here at Linn-Mar. It's so nice to be back here winning again.

“It would be fantastic to finish our first year on these new courts by bringing home a state championship. I wish I could have played more than one year here but they did such a fantastic job with this facility. It will be a great place for future players to play for a long time.”

Linn-Mar’s superior depth was simply too much for the Lancers. Garrett Bauermeister, Quentin Spolaore and Brock Witham also won, none dropping more than three games in a set.

The Lions will be taking a 16-0 record to the state meet, to be held May 30-31 at Waukee Northwest High School. The last time a Linn-Mar team went undefeated was in 2015 when it finished 19-0. Coach Chris Wundram’s current team is ranked behind Waukee Northwest, but he said it will take a great effort from any team at state to take down the Lions.

“An outsider might say maybe we have exceeded expectations,” Wundram said. “I think we have met our expectations so far. We are right where we want to be. We are a hungry group and we are going to be a really tough out at state.”

Class 2A substate tennis roundup

In other 2A substate finals on Wednesday, No. 6 Cedar Rapids Washington (12-5) earned a return trip to state with a 5-0 win over Johnston at Washington.

“Our seniors really came through leading the team,” said Warriors Coach Tom Neff. “You could just feel the friendship and support the team, family and fans had for each other. It was awesome.”

Seniors Logan Sherman, Colton Eilers and Thor White all had big wins. White needed three sets to win at No. 5 singles, downing Brandon Hermann, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3. Junior Luke Burkamper and sophomore Bjorn White also won for the Warriors

No. 4 Iowa City West, the two-time defending state champion, will be back in the state field after downing Iowa City High, 5-0 at West.

Class 1A substate tennis roundup

At Cedar Rapids Xavier, the second-ranked Saints (12-3) advanced to state with an impressive 5-0 win over previously unbeaten Fairfield.

Coach Jim Potts’ team, the four-time defending state champion, got singles wins from Jacob Schmit, Bennett Link, Bradley Johnson, Quincey Johnson and Freddy Zeckser. As a group, the players dropped only five games with the Johnsons and Zeckser winning by 6-0, 6-0 scores.

At Decorah, the No. 7 Vikings (11-3-1), led by defending singles state champion Caden Branum, downed Aplington-Parkersburg, 5-1, to earn a spot at state.

Branum rolled to a 6-3, 6-2 win over Tate Neymeyer. Other Decorah winners included Aiden Nalean-Carlson, Keaton Nalean-Carlson, Tristan Hunter and Seth Bolson.