Cedar Rapids Xavier’s Ella Tallett reaches state tennis semifinals

IOWA CITY — The running joke with the Xavier girls tennis team is that senior Ella Tallett can sometimes “overthink” things.

“We do kid Ella about thinking too much when she is on the court,” Saints Coach Matt Foxhoven said. “There are times when we wish she wouldn’t think as much on the court, but that is who she is and she really does a good job, especially today.”

Tallett had an exceptional opening day of play in the Class 1A state singles tournament at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Center.

The No. 3 seed won a pair of matches to earn a spot in the semifinals at 10 a.m. Saturday against Waterloo Columbus’ Alli Hagness. She opened Friday with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Glenwood’s Coryl Matheny and followed that up with a solid 6-1, 6-2 win over Pella’s Emily Blom.

Overthinking things has worked well for Tallett. She was the class valedictorian for the Class of 2022 at Xavier and will continue her studies this fall at Duke in the environmental science and policy program.

“I do tend to overthink things on the court,” she said. “I really do try and not do that, but thinking through things has really been something I have always done on the court.

Foxhoven felt Tallett was especially strong in her win over Blom, moving the Pella player around the court before finishing off points.

After spending the regular season playing at No. 3 behind Courtney Carstensen and Ally Burger, Tallett is making the most of her state opportunity.

“I felt a lot more confident in my second match today,” Tallett said. “I think I was much more relaxed in the points I played and it showed up in the score.”

Defending state doubles champions Burger and Carstensen put up two quick wins to advance to the final four. They downed Knoxville’s Olivia Maasdam and Jayden Streigle, 6-1, 6-2, then coasted past Spencer’s Hayley Berends and Kinsey Schroeder, 6-0, 6-2. They will meet the No. 4 seeded team of Mara Holland and Annalise Skrade in the semifinals.

“On the first day, you just like to get on and off the court as quickly as possible,” Foxhoven said. “I thought Ally and Courtney were very focused today in both of their matches.”

Marion’s Gracie Goad and Natalee Hartman lost their opening match, then won 7-6, 6-4 over Spirit Lake-Okoboji’s Abbie Oleson and Taylor Schneider, then 6-0, 3-6, 1-0 (10-6) over Spencer’s Hailey Berends and Kinsey Schroeder. They will next face Clarinda’s Taylor Cole and Mayson Hartley at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

In Class 2A play at Waukee Northwest, the Cedar Rapids Washington duo of Katelynn Kock and Kathryn Zylstra rolled through to the semifinals with two impressive wins.

The No. 2 seed downed the Norwalk pair of Ava and Olivia Johnson, 6-0, 6-1. They followed that up with a 6-1, 6-2 win over West Des Moines Dowling’s Grace Frye and Isa Valverde. They will meet Bettendorf’s Elizabeth Alves and Andrea Porubcin in the semifinals.

Cedar Rapids Prairie freshman Sasha Postnikov won her first-round match, 6-3, 6-3, over Cedar Rapids Washington’s Mya Messenger, but fell in the quarterfinals, 6-0, 6-0, to West Des Moines Valley’s Claire Gu. She bowed out against Pleasant Valley’s Lauren Masengarb in the consolation bracket.

Liberty’s Ella Gilbert was a 6-0, 6-1 winner over Dubuque Hempstead’s Sydney Thoms. She lost her quarterfinal match, 6-0, 6-0, to top seed Allison Szalay to move to the consolation bracket, where she beat Davenport Central’s Maitreyi Shrikhande in straight sets. She will face Waterloo West’s Sasha Hyacinth — who eliminated Messenger — Saturday at 9:30 a.m.

Messenger came back to win, 6-1, 6-3, over Ames’ Angelina Chen in the consolation round. The Warriors’ second doubles team of Liberty Wickham and Chloe Palmer also lost in the first round, 6-1, 6-1, to No. 4 Anna Current and Abby Struble of Clinton. They bounced back with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Valley’s Izumi Brown and Allison Rickert before bowing out against Valley’s Maddie Hockmuth and Elaine Wang.