The Cedar Rapids Kennedy girls double team of Sarah Lasecki and Jessica Pedersen rebounded from a disappointing semifinal loss to the Washington girls to finish third in the Class 2A state tournament Friday a the Veterans Memorial Tennis Center.

In the morning match against Warriors Rina Moore and Lilly Hartman, they took a 5-2 lead in the opening set but then lost their next three games.

They then dropped the tiebreaker 7-5 when the senior Lasecki double-faulted on her final serve.

Knotted at 2-2 in the second set, Washington went on to win 6-3 to move into the championships.

“We had a great start,” Lasecki said, “but we couldn’t finish.

“They  figured out what they were doing and got in the groove of things.

“There was a momentum shift. And once we started losing, we kept playing really badly.”

The heartbreaker, however, didn’t kill their spirit.

In the afternoon session,  Lasecki and freshman partner Pedersen defeated fourth-seeded Ann Ku and Taylor Thoen of Ames 6-2, 7-5.

The unseeded Cougar giant killers had beaten the tournament’s third-seeded team from West Des Moines Valley on Thursday to reach the semifinal match with Washington.

Ku had played on the Ames doubles team that won the state championship last year.

The Kennedy girls played with fire in the consolation final.

“They played really well,” said Kennedy Coach Joe Benedict. “For them to bounce back the way they did shows the kind of character and talent that they have.”

The first set went quickly in the Cougars’ favor, and they jumped in front 5-2 in the second.  They then lost three games in a  row to knot the set at 5-5.

“That’s when I got mad,” said Lasecki, playing in her fourth state tournament and bound for the Coe College tennis team next year.  “I started playing my angry game, serving hard and hitting everything as hard as I could.”

It paid dividends with her best finish in state tourney play.

In the Class 2A singles, top-seeded Fort Dodge freshman Jaci Cochrane defeated Iowa City High sophomore Eve Small 6-4 7-5 to claim the championship title.  Cochrane and Small both came into the final match undefeated for the season.

Powerhouse Johnston sophomore Liera Bender finished third and Waukee junior Kayla Kuethe fourth.