*Rankings are based on the 5/1 Iowa HS Tennis Rankings.
Class 2A District Tidbits
Host: Ankeny Centennial
What may be the weakest site of the 8 locations in terms of the teams, the singles final can pretty much be penciled in with Caleb Petersen of Ankeny Centennial and Quinn Monson of Waukee vying for the title and rights to be seeded at state. Petersen is undefeated this spring in singles with wins over former teammate Kaden Taylor in straight sets, and a super tiebreak win over Monson in their respective dual meets. Should those two go singles, the doubles draw would be wide open for a lot of pairs to make a run for a state berth. Not quite sure who is the clear team to advance out of this district.
Host: Cedar Falls
Moving over to the east, Cedar Falls will be playing host to what seems to be the most competitive district this year. The #7 and #8 teams of Mason City and Cedar Falls headline this site along with CR Jefferson, CR Kennedy, DBQ Hempstead and Waterloo West. Parker Sprague of Kennedy is the only shoe in for one of the 4 state berth spots that I can see and should run the table pretty easily in singles. Outside of that, it completely depends on what CF and MC will do with their entries, but I expect those two teams to move on to the substate rounds.
Host: Iowa City Liberty
Breaking in the new courts for the first time in a postseason fashion with be the Bolts of Liberty who is set to host this district in North Liberty. #5 Linn-Mar leads the way at this site and should be in line to claim multiple state entrants when the day is done, as well as moving on as a team. Burlington and Ottumwa may be the next two that battle it out as a team to move on to the substate rounds.
Host: Iowa City West
The #1 Trojans are once again hosting districts and are primed to potentially send 2 singles players and 2 doubles tandems to state yet again. This is a very tough site for CR Prairie freshman Anthony Schulte to have in his quest to qualify for state in his rookie season. Schulte has had a tremendous freshman campaign and lost in super tiebreaks to IC West in singles and doubles in their dual meet. Regardless, Schulte will have to beat a Trojan player/duo to make state. The rest of the field will be pretty competitive in terms of which teams will have to compete to move on in the substate rounds.
Host: Marshalltown
The #6 Bobcats get to host districts at their new beautiful 12 court facility for the first time. Assuming Daniel Lu from Dowling is in the singles field again, Marshalltown has a great chance to claim a number of the remaining state qualification spots. While the Bobcats should move on just fine as a team at the end of the day, it could get slightly interesting seeing who will be the second team to advance out of the district. If Dowling actually has their normal players in the two fields, they should move on.
Host: North Scott
Another east side of the state district, this one has the #2 Pleasant Valley Spartans leading the way and is a team that could qualify all of their entries to state with little resistance. A source has told me that Jake Dolphin and Brady Adams of PV will NOT be in the doubles field together this year and will try their luck in the state singles tournament. Those two were my preseason pick to win state doubles, and I still do think they would have a legit shot playing together, but that won't be the case. Look for Clinton and North Scott to be competitive in moving on to substate.
Host: Valley
The #3 Valley Tigers are once again set to host another edition of the district tournaments. As a team, I fully expect the Tigers to move on to substate with little trouble. Also in this district is #10 Roosevelt and #9 Johnston, two new teams to the top 10 state rankings. These two teams should be very close and probably will be the prelim substate match to see who moves on with Valley. Don't be surprised if they have a few players/duos create some trouble for Valley along the way in terms of singles/doubles state qualification spots.
Host: Waukee Northwest
The newest team in Iowa HS Tennis, #4 Waukee Northwest gets to host at their brand new facility in just a week. Like the top 3 teams and their respective districts, the Wolves have a great chance to get all of their entries to state, and will be moving on to substate. Kaden Taylor, defending state doubles champ and #1 for the Wolves I would expect to be in the singles field and be a contender for the singles state title. After Waukee NW, Ames looks to be the next team with the best chance of moving on in the postseason.
Class 1A District Tidbits
Host: Boone
#8 Boone and #10 Grinnell lead the way at the Boone district and are my best guess to be the two teams to keep their seasons alive. Calvin Jaworski of Grinnell will be the best player in the field and it will be interesting to see if he will be in for singles or doubles. Besides those items, I wouldn't be incredibly surprised if these two teams combine to claim all of the state tournament berths.
#8 Boone and #10 Grinnell lead the way at the Boone district and are my best guess to be the two teams to keep their seasons alive. Calvin Jaworski of Grinnell will be the best player in the field and it will be interesting to see if he will be in for singles or doubles. Besides those items, I wouldn't be incredibly surprised if these two teams combine to claim all of the state tournament berths.
Host: Columbus Catholic
The Columbus district is my pick to be sneaky competitive throughout the entire day. While #4 Dubuque Wahlert is the only top 10 team at this site, Marion and Columbus will prove to be good tests for the Golden Eagles players. Jack Freiburger, Roan & Nolan Martineau of Wahlert and Seth Blackford of Marion look to be in line for state tournament berths depending which field they all will be in.
Host: Decorah
#6 Decorah gets to host a district this year, which I know is typically a challenge in terms of geography for them and sending teams nearly to Minnesota. The Vikings could get quite a few players to state this year and are led by #1 player junior Caden Branum, who was in the state doubles field last year. After Decorah, we could pick out of a hat to see which team will move on to substate.
Host: Denison-Schleswig
Another district with just one top 10 team in the field lies #5 Denison-Schleswig. To me, there is not a dominant player or players that should just wipe the floor with everyone on their way to a district title. As a team, the Monarchs most likely will be advancing just fine, after that, I would expect Kuemper Catholic and Atlantic to battle it out to keep their seasons alive. Kuemper beat Atlantic in their dual this season 5-4.
Host: Fairfield & Maharishi
Two time defending team state champion #1 Cedar Rapids Xavier for the second year in a row will head to Fairfield for their district. CRX, I expect to get multiple state entries next week and possibly even all of their entries in. After the Saints, Davenport Assumption, Maharishi and Mount Pleasant should have a very tight race with one of these teams not having the chance at a prelim substate dual. Maharishi and MP have split their two dual matches this season, this could get very interesting.
Host: Knoxville
The Dutch of #2 Pella should have a pretty easy go in this district and a great chance to get a lot of entries to state. Only main story here is which Dutch players will be in which field. After that, it looks wide open for another team to step up and keep their team season alive.
Host: Red Oak
Similar to the Fairfield district, one top 10 team will be here in #7 Ballard and the Bombers have a nice shot at multiple entries to state. That being said, the trio of Clarinda, Shenandoah and Glenwood may be in a close battle to make it out with Ballard. Clarinda has beaten both Shenandoah and Glenwood 5-4 this season, but postseason is win or go home, anything could happen.
Host: Spencer
What should be the toughest district by far at Spencer, this will be the site of most interest next week for me. #3 Spencer and #9 LeMars are the two ranked teams that will be here along with Estherville and St. Edmond to name a few. Spencer I don't think will have trouble moving on as a team when it is said and done, but it could be a close call for LeMars to comfortably move to substate.
Thanks for reading and good luck to everyone this last week of the regular season!
-Iowa HS Tennis
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