Riley Galbraith and Kyle Appel have become good friends on the summer tennis circuit, so good they play doubles together despite being rivals during the high school season.

They had to put their friendship aside Thursday when they met in the finals of the Class 2A district meet at the Veterans Memorial Tennis Center in Cedar Rapids.

Appel trimmed Galbraith for the district title, 7-6, 6-4.

Appel, a sophomore from Iowa City West, and Galbraith, a junior from Kennedy, were seeded 1-2 for the district meet, so it was no surprise when they advanced to the finals from opposite ends of the bracket.

They shook hands and came out swinging.

"We both understand that we're both trying to win," Galbraith said before the match. "There's really no love lost when we go out there. We're going to be friends no matter what."

Appel beat Galbraith, 8-5, in their only previous meeting this season at the Cedar Rapids Washington Warrior Invitational.

"It's sort of like we're friends off the court, but on the court it's all competition," Appel remarked.

There was pride and a district title on the line, but Appel and Galbraith knew they'd both qualify for the state meet May 27-28 because the district champion and runnerup both advance to state. As it turned out, they were the lucky ones in a talent-filled district.

Only the top two singles players and top two doubles teams advance to the state tournament, which means all the other top players who competed in the district meet are out of luck, unless their entire team qualifies for the state meet.

Galbraith did not like seeing Iowa City West, Linn-Mar, Washington and Kennedy all in the same district. He thought it was top-heavy with strong players and strong teams.

"I was kind of angry," he said. "I mean, they're putting all the best teams in the same district, and there are other districts that have really no good teams.

"I don't quite understand what happened. But everyone is going through the same thing and you just have to deal with it."

Appel beat Brady Anderson of Linn-Mar in the semifinals. Galbraith topped Blake Oetting of Iowa City West to reach the finals.

"There are four really top players in the singles draw here and two of them aren't going to make it (to state). And they probably deserve to. That's where it hurts," Galbraith said.

"We've all earned it, we've all practiced all the time and put our lives into it and we've earned a spot, and it just gets taken from someone."

There were eight IHSAA Class 2A tennis districts around the state on Thursday. There will be 16 singles players and 16 doubles teams at the state meet.

There were fireworks in the doubles finals that ended with Charlie Hammond and Mitch Blades of Washington being disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct. Tyler McCann and Gavin Young of Linn-Mar were declared the doubles champions by ejection default.

Clayton Hoyt and Mitch Anderson of Washington won the third-place match, but they were declared the runnerup after Hammond and Blades were disqualified.

Iowa City West won the district team championship and automatically advances to the team substate finals on May 21. Linn-Mar finished second in the team standings and Washington placed third, which means Linn-Mar will host Washington this Saturday in the team substate semifinals.

CLASS 2A DISTRICT TENNIS
Veterans Memorial Tennis Center

Team Standings

1. Iowa City West 21, 2. Linn-Mar 19, 3. Washington 17, 4. Kennedy 11, 5. Jefferson 4, 6. Xavier 3.

SINGLES

Opening Round

Jacob Donald (CRJ) def. Cole Rhatigan (CRW), 6-3, 0-6, 7-5.
Dan Waste (CRK) def. Dan O'Connell (CRX), 6-2, 6-4.
Blake Oetting (ICW) def. Dillon Einck (LM), 6-0, 6-0.
Alex Intlekofer (CRW) def. Grant Hunt (CRX) 6-1, 6-0.

Quarterfinals

Kyle Appel (ICW) def. Donald (CRJ), 6-0, 6-0.
Brady Anderson (LM) def. Wasta (CRK), 6-1, 6-0.
Oetting (ICW) def. Eddie Segarra (CRJ), 6-1, 7-6.
Riley Galbraith (CRK) def. Intlekofer (CRW), 6-0, 6-2.

Semifinals

Appel (ICW) def. Anderson (LM), 7-5, 6-0.
Galbraith (CRK) def. Oetting (ICW), 6-4, 6-4.

Finals

Appel (ICW) def. Galbraith (CRK), 7-6, 6-4.

Third Place

Oetting (ICW) def. Anderson (LM), 6-4, 6-7, 10-3.

DOUBLES

Opening Round

Blake Young/Jack Frank (LM) def. Alex Gerleman/Chris Petersen (CRX), 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
Bryce Blomberg/Robert Sweet (CRK) def. David Shuman/Colten Jourdan (CRJ), 6-0, 6-1.
Mitch Anderson/Clayton Hoyt (CRW) def. Ethan Gascho/Nolan Nietert (CRK), 6-1, 6-4.
Karl Wenzel/Yoon Soo Kim (ICW) def. Andrew Miller/Daniel Britton (CRJ), 7-5, 6-0.

Quarterfinals

Charlie Hammond/Mitch Blades (CRW) def. Young/Frank (LM), 6-1, 6-3.
Adam Dellos/Ben Dellos (ICW) def. Blomberg/Sweet (CRK), 6-7, 6-2, 7-5.
Anderson/Hoyt (CRW) def. Noah Schmall/Jimmy Deigman (CRX), 6-3, 6-4.
Tyler McCann/Gavin Young (LM) def. Wenzel/Kim (ICW), 6-0, 6-2.

Semifinals

Hammond/Blades (CRW) def. Dellos/Dellos (ICW), 6-2, 6-4.
McCann/Young (LM) def. Hoyt/Anderson (CRW), 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.

Finals

McCann/Young (LM) def. Hammond/Blades (CRW), ejection default

Third Place

Hoyt/Anderson (CRW) def. Dellos/Dellos (ICW), 6-2, 6-4.

NOTE: Hoyt/Anderson (CRW) declared runnerup.