The first leg of postseason play has arrived, and we are excited to dive in and discuss wheat we think will happen in each district. But first, let's breakdown the ramifications of districts for anyone not familiar. On Wednesday, May 8, 24/48 teams will advance to substate and 48/288 players will punch their ticket to the individual state tournament in cedar rapids. With so few entrants (16 for singles and doubles), many well-deserving players are bound to be left out. But unlike previous years, state administrators did a great job of disbursing talent across districts and avoiding awkward situations such as Jiung Jung playing Joe Hoff in both the districts and the state finals in 2016-2017, or #2 CR Washington being paired in the same district with #1 Iowa City West in 2017.This is my first time writing a post as a guest on the Iowa HS tennis blog. Comment below with any thoughts or suggestions, and email any corrections to iowahstennis@gmail.com!
*The following rankings of teams are based on the blog rankings from April 30*
*Team records are up-to-date as of May 1 on Quik Stats*
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AT: Ankeny Centennial
The Upset Alert District
Teams: #6 Ankeny Centennial, DM Lincoln, DM Hoover, WDM Dowling, Fort Dodge, Lewis Central
#6 Ankeny Centennial (9-1) will host a group of Des Moines schools with Fort Dodge and Lewis Central thrown in the mix. Centennial is the favorite, led at #1 singles by Will Blevins (8-2) whose only losses have been to last year's singles state champion, Tim Ellis from Ames, and Will Ecklund from Waukee. He looks to return to the state tournament after finishing 5th in his freshman campaign. Freshman phenom Daniel Lu (7-1) of Dowling Catholic (6-2) will make his postseason debut with his only loss being a defeat on April 16 at the hands of Blevins. While Ankeny Centennial is the only ranked team in the district, don't sleep on Dowling's chances to pull a big upset here. Using postseason scoring, Dowling came up just short in the regular season by a 5-4 decision to Centennial. I expect this district's champion will ultimately be decided by 1 or 2 matches. Fort dodge (4-4) is my favorite to secure the third and final spot.
Players to Watch
Will Blevins, Ankeny Centennial
Daniel Lu, Dowling
Ryan Lofgren, Ankeny Centennial
Jack Drey, Dowling
Predicted Finish
#6 Ankeny Centennial
Dowling
Fort Dodge
Best Team Name: The Lewis Central Titans
Fun Fact: This district has three of the smallest schools by enrollment in Class 2A (#41 Fort Dodge, #42 DM Hoover, #46 Lewis Central)
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AT: Bettendorf
The Rivertown District
Teams: #9 Bettendorf, Burlington, Davenport Central, Davenport West, DBQ Senior, Muscatine
The #9 Bettendorf Bulldogs return what could be this year's best doubles team in the Class 2A state doubles tournament. Yash Singh and Jozef Porubcin teamed up last year to place third in the state tournament with Singh being no stranger to the event. Each of the past three tournaments, Singh made it to the semifinals with two 3rd place and one 4th place finish to show. Singh and Porubcin will make Bettendorf hard to beat. Look for Bettendorf to qualify multiple entries. Beyond the Bulldogs, expect competition from Mike Miniter (6-0) of Davenport Central and DBQ Senior's squad (7-4). Davenport West (6-3) might also be a contender for a substate bit.
Players to Watch
Yash Singh/Jozef Porubcin, Bettenforf
Mike Miniter, Davenport Central
Dylan Fair, DBQ Senior
Predicted Finish
#9 Bettendorf
Dubuque Senior
Davenport West
Best Team Name: The Davenport Central Blue Devils
Fun Fact: The last team to win a doubles title for Bettendorf was Kyle Johnson an David DeSimone in 2010. Could Singh and Porubcin win Bettendorf's 13th doubles title and break the school's tie for most for doubles titles with Roosebelt?
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AT: IC West
The Tough Luck District
Teams: CR Jeff, IC High, IC Liberty, #1 IC West, Newton, Ottumwa
Whoever has to play #1 IC West (10-0) in districts, I am sorry for your loss(es)! After losing a 5-4 heartbreaker to Linn-Mar in the team state final last year, the Trojans returned their entire starting lineup to districts expect for #5 singles player Brad DiLeo. That means they return the following players, 2018 3rd place finisher Sam Shin, 2017 State Doubles Champion Jack Wenzel, and four other impressive players who pose a threat to wreak havoc in the individual state tournament. Kyle Lassen from CR Jeff (5-6) rounds out our players to watch as he has had a nice season thus far going 7-3 at the top singles spot and made his first appearance at state last year. His only losses this year have been to Rami Scheetz, Luke VanDonslear and Sam Shin. Who is the third best team in the district? Ottumwa (7-5) is my best bet to secure the final bid.
Players to Watch
Iowa City West Team
Kyle Lasses, CR Jeff
Predicted Finish
#1 IC West
CR Jeff
Ottumwa
Best Team Name: The IC Liberty Lightning
Fun Fact: The last time IC West was not in the team state final? 2010. At the time, the current senior class was in 3rd grade.
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AT: Johnston
The "Best of the West" District
Teams: Ankeny, CB Jefferson, DM East, Indianola, Johnston, #4 Waukee
#4 Waukee has put together a really nice season. They are undefeated (7-0) and #1 singles player, Will Ecklund (6-1) has shown he is "the sheriff in town" this season by dispatching area rivals Daniel Lu and Will Blevins. The next step for Ecklund and company? Making sure Johnston and the rest of the teams in this district know "this town ain't big enough for the both of us". IN addition to Ecklund, keep and on on Noah Burmeister and Sam Fouts for Waukee. Chris Yao (9-3) from Johnston has also been a nice player in the past few years and don't forget about Bradyn Upchurch (7-3) of Indianola as a sleeper pick to win a big to Veterans Memorial Tennis Center.
Players to Watch
Will Ecklund, Waukee
Noah Burmesiter, Waukee
Chris Yao, Johnston
Bradyn Upchurch, Indianola
Predicted Finish
#4 Waukee
Johnston
Indianola
Best Team Name: The Johnston Dragons
Fun Fact: Former Waukee 2014 singles state champion, Alex Brown, now players for the University of Illinois and reached a career high #10 singles ranking in Division I tennis this past fall.
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AT: North Scott
The Emerging Competitors District
Teams: Clinton Davenport North, DBQ Hempstead, Western Dubuque, North Scott, #2 Pleasant Valley
#2 Pleasant Valley (8-0) has had some really good players the past few years. Charlie Humes paired up with teammate, Sriram Sugumaran, to win a state doubles title in 2016, and last year, Justin Sehlin (12-1) had one of the schools best ever performances by placing 4th in the state singles tournament. When it comes to figuring out who is PVs best team ever, there is no question this team has a great opportunity to leave their mark. Led by Sehlin, who will be one of the favorites to win the singles crown this year, the Spartans have breezed through their competition thus far only dropping two dual meet matches all year. Behind Sehlin, Nathan Wong (11-0) has been a very reliable #2 players winning 88.5% of games player with an 11-0 record. Jake Dolphin has also been a nice surprise at #3 singles and is perhaps one of the best freshman this year. While PC is the favorite to win, I would like to draw attention to Dubuque Hempstead (6-5) which has greatly improved from a 2-11 record last year.
Players to Watch
Justin Sehlin, Pleasant Valley
Nathan Won, Pleasant Valley
Jake Dolphin, Pleasant Valley
Predicted Finish
#2 Pleasant Valley
Davenport North
DBQ Hempstead
Best Team Name: The DBQ Hempstead Mustangs
Fun Fact: Pleasant Valley's best team state finish was 4th place in 2001 and 2017. Could this be the year they win their first title.
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AT: CR Prairie
The MVC Showdown District
Teams: #7 Cedar Falls, CR Kennedy, #5 Linn-Mar, Marshalltown, CR Prairie, Waterloo West
Fresh off their third team state title in 2018, the #5 Linn-Mar Lions reload this spring and have been a very respectable 10-3 with all 3 losses coming to the top 3 teams in 2A. Luke VanDonslear (11-2) leads the squad and boasts a marquee win against Justin Sehlin who finished 4th in last year's state tournament. He is joined by Jackson Eels (6-3) and the rest of the Linn-Mar lineup which will have a fair shot at making the state tournament. The biggest challenge in their wasy is #7 Cedar Falls 910-3) plus a couple of strong entries in Parker Sprague (8-6) of CR Kennedy and Marshalltown's top duo of Luke McKibben and Luke Smith, who make the doubles tournament last year. Out of all the districts, I could see either this district or Ankeny Centennial district being the most likely to come down to the final two matches.
Players to Watch
Luke VanDonslear, Linn-Mar
Parker Sprague, CR Kennedy
Siddhartha Kalala, Cedar Falls
Jackson Eels, Linn-Mar
Luke x2, Marshalltown
Predicted Finish
#5 Linn-Mar
#7 Cedar Falls
Marshalltown
Best Team Name: The Marshalltown Bobcats
Fun Fact: Which of these schools has historically won the most singles titles compared to the other five teams? Waterloo West. The West High Warriors have won 5 state singles titles and have the second most singles final appearances in state history.
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AT: SE Polk
The "Let's Not Do THAT Again" District/The Champions District
Teams: #8 CR Washington, DM North, Mason City, SE Polk, Urbandale
After the 2017 districts debacle which pitted #2 Wash against #1 IC West in the same district, administrators definitely made sure that West and Wash would be as far away as possible in 2019 by sending the Warriors on a 123 mile road trip to Southeast Polk! While #3 Wash (11-1) is certainly the favorite, don't expect this district to be an automatic 4 bids for the red and blue team ahiling from "The 319". Look out for #8 Ames (7-3), led by 2018 singles champion, tim Ellis who is undefeated on the year. Ellis seems to be playing doubles with partner, Nate Withers in the district. Brian VandenBerg (8-3) from Mason City (3-5) is also back for his final year and will be one of the favorites in singles, or in doubles with partner James Matthew. VandenBerg and Matthews have had a great year beating both Valley and Dowling while losing at #1 doubles to Waukee in a 3rd set superbreaker. CR Wash will most likely be led by undefeated Scheetz in singles and Ty Sherman/Grayson Zylstra in doubles. Sherman and Zylestra are a dark horse to win the state doubles tournament with three losses this spring coming in 3rd set superbreakers, along with Sherman's state doubles championship last spring. With last year's state singles champion, Tim Ellis, and the doubles pair of Ty Sherman and Rami Scheetz, this disctrict probably has the most star power. Interesting note we have just become aware of recently is the Scheetz has a broken thumb on his playing hand, it will be interesting to see if he can continue to play through it. Would be a shame to see his season done.
Players to Watch
Tim Ellis/Nate Withers, Ames
Rami Scheetz, CR Wash
Ty Sherman/Grayson Zylstra, CR Wash
Brian VandenBerg, Mason City
Predicted Finish
#3 CR Wash
#8 Ames
Mason City
Best Team Name: The DM North Polar Bears
Fun Fact: Tim Ellis older brother, John, won a class 1A individual state title for Boone in 2012.
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AT: Valley
The "What Do We Do with These Teams in Western Iowa?" District
Teams: CB Lincoln, DM Roosevelt, SC East, SC North, SC West, #10 Valley
#10 Valley (6-4) hosts traditional powerhouse, DM Roosevelt (5-2), and four teams form Western Iowa in this district all of which are between 2-3 hours away from Des Moines. Out of all the teams in Western Iowa in this district, CB Lincoln (8-3) went 3-0 against the pack. But in a match against their only common opponent with Valley, they lost to Marshalltown by a postseason score of 9-0 while Valley rolled 8-1. Players to watch include Kyle Elmore (4-2), Neil Sura and Roy Jensen who placed 4th in last year's state doubles tournament for Valley, I have also included Sam Brown from DM Roosevelt who has had a good freshman season.
Players to Watch
Kyle Elmore, Valley
Neil Sure, Valley
Roy Jensen, Valley
Sam Brown, DM Roosevelt
Predicted Finish
#10 Valley
DM Roosevelt
CB Lincoln
Best Team Name: The DM Roosevelt Roughriders
Fun Fact: DM Roosevelt has won a staggering state record 28 individual state titles (16 singles and 12 doubles). Bettendorf and IC High trail the Roughriders with 15 and 14 individual titles.
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We look forward to providing you more content and analysis once districts is completed. Until the, let us know of any corrections or suggestions you might have at iowahstennis@gmail.com
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