Other Teams to Watch
CR Wash
Dowling Catholic
IC West
Pleasant Valley
Kuemper Catholic
Cedar Rapids Washington - Boys
The Warriors were ranked #2 throughout the 2017 season, and defeated Linn-Mar in their only head to head, who lost the state championship to IC West. Wash graduated their 3-5 players but return veterans in Ty Sherman and Rami Scheetz, who finished runner-up at state doubles. Wash also returns last seasons #6 Bennett Blumenthal along with the addition of freshman Grayson Zylstra who will be in the top 6. The Warriors will be young with no seniors on the varsity squad and have the ability to compete for the Valley Division of the MVC again this season.
Best Case Scenario: Valley Divisional champs, and finish top 4 at Ankeny
Worst Case Scenario: Valley Divisional champs but run into Linn-Mar or IC West in substate play and miss out on Ankeny
Dowling Catholic, West Des Moines - Girls
Another team who has consistently been one of the top teams in the state over the past few seasons is Dowling Catholic out of West Des Moines. An undefeated regular season last year, the Maroons suffered their only loss in the state finals to Pleasant Valley. Only losing Anna Corell to graduation, the Maroons return four of their top five players from the 2017 runner-up team and could be in the discussion for a team title. Dowling Catholic shouldn't have too much trouble this season, but the meet with Ames could be a good one as the Little Cyclones are also an experienced team.
Best Case Scenario: Overcome last years heartbreak and finish as team champions
Worst Case Scenario: Top 4 finish in Iowa City
Iowa City West - Girls
With a 20-2 record and a 3rd place team finish in 2017, the Women of Troy are poised to take the next step toward a state championship this season. Returning most of their starters headed by state doubles champ Emma Koch, West has the tools to compete for the state title. A couple of newcomers, sister of Emma, Audrey Koch and Caroline Chandler will make immediate contributions to the West squad this spring.
Best Case Scenario: State championship, not a bit out of reach.
Worst Case Scenario: Finishing 3rd or 4th in Iowa City
Pleasant Valley - Boys
The Spartans graduated a good portion of their lineup from a season ago but return Just Sehlin, Nathan Wong and Kiran Marla. PV also will have Muneed Nadeem a state doubles qualifier for Waukee in 2017. Even though one of the best players in program history, Sriram Sugumaran was lost to graduation, the Spartans will be looking to their depth this year to make a deep run at state. The meet against Bettendorf is an important conference matchup, otherwise, their schedule is pretty straight forward from there.
Best Case Scenario: A veteran squad leads PV to a 4th place finish
Worst Case Scenario: Fail to reach the team state quarters
2017 concluded with a 10-4 record, conference title and a 4th place state finish for the Knights from Carroll. Kuemper Catholic returns their top three players, state singles qualifier Tanner Finken, Cam Pille and Justin Schroeder. These three players will be a key factor in defending the conference title. Glenwood and Atlantic are two key meets to watch out for with this team, and the Knights will have to be competitive at the 4-6 singles spots to have another appearance at state this season.
Best Case Scenario: Top 3 singles have a strong season along with the bottom 3 singles spots stepping up catapults Kuemper Catholic into another top 4 finish.
Worst Case Scenario: Youth and inexperience are too tough to overcome this year and the Knights fall in the substate semis, or team quarterfinals.
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