Kennedy Boys Tennis

Kennedy boys swat Hempstead; advance to substate

Kennedy won five straight singles matches Saturday morning and swept past Dubuque Hempstead, 5-0, in a Class 2A boys team tennis preliminary substate round meet at Coe College.

The win advances Kennedy to the substate tournament May 19 at Jefferson. The Cougars will play Clinton at 9 a.m. The winner of that meet will face Linn-Mar, Bettendorf or Pleasant Valley in the afternoon in the substate final.

Riley Galbraith whipped Nick Johnson, 6-0, 6-2, at No. 1 singles.

Arjun Venkatesh, Brett Blomberg, Quinn Jamrock and Jimmy Cunningham also won singles matches.

Mitch Martin's match with Hempstead's Jeff Teng was suspended after Kennedy won its fifth match to clinch the victory.

AT COE COLLEGE
Kennedy 5, Dubuque Hempstead 0

Singles
1. Riley Galbraith (CRK) def. Nick Johnson, 6-0, 6-2
2. Mitch Martin (CRK) vs. Jeff Teng, 5-7, 6-3, 2-4 (suspended)
3. Arjun Venkatesh (CRK) def. JT Bortscheller, 6-4, 7-6 (2)
4. Brett Blomberg (CRK) def. Nathan Longfield, 6-2, 6-2
5. Quinn Jamrock (CRK) def. Christian White, 6-2, 6-0
6. Jimmy Cunningham (CRK) def. Spencer Tinsman, 6-1, 6-0

No doubles played

Galbraith, Linn-Mar cop district tennis titles

Brotherly love stopped at the net on the Linn-Mar tennis courts Thursday as the Lions' doubles team led by senior Tyler McCann trounced kid brother Trevor’s duo, 6-1, 6-1, to claim a district championship.

Putting both of its doubles teams in the finals, however, helped propel Linn-Mar to the team title in the six-team Class 2A field.

In singles competition, Kennedy’s undefeated and top-seeded Riley Galbraith coasted to three lopsided wins for a return to the state tournament, May 25-26 at Veterans Memorial Tennis Center in Cedar Rapids.

Galbraith’s run powered the Cougars to the runner-up spot in the team standings. Dubuque Hempstead came in third.

Tyler McCann finished third in state doubles last year when he teamed with since graduated Gavin Young.

Paired this season with sophomore Brady Anderson, the two were top-seeded for Thursday’s district tournament. Anderson lost last year in singles play to eventual third-place finisher Kyle Appel of Iowa City West.

The McCann/Anderson duo proved to be a powerhouse, losing just three games in their three district victories.

“We played well all day,” said McCann. “This was a big accomplishment. And I think we’ve got a chance to go all the way this year.”

He noted that he and his partner this year have already defeated two of other top doubles teams in this part of the state from Cedar Rapids Washington and Iowa City West.

“We make a good team,” said Anderson. “Tyler’s better at the net, and I’m more of a baseline player. We balance each other out.”

They showed little mercy on teammates Trevor McCann, a freshman, and junior John Kuster.  Seeded third, the Lions’ number two doubles team had advanced to the finals by upsetting second-seeded Colten Jourdan and Jacob Donald of Jefferson.

“Obviously, we didn’t play our best,” Trevor McCann explained of the pasting they took in the championship match.  They also advanced to the state tournament in two weeks, though.

Galbraith, who had a two-hour break before playing a Kennedy soccer match at Linn-Mar Thursday night, had little trouble in his quest to better his fourth-place singles finish in last year’s state tournament.  In what he thought beforehand would be his toughest challenge, he easily dispatched of second-seed Nick Johnson of Hempstead, 6-1, 6-1.

Galbraith said playing on both the varsity tennis and soccer squads this spring has put him in tip-top shape.

“To have to be in good condition to play soccer,” he said.  “I didn’t get tired today. And in all of my matches, I thought the other guys got worn out in the second set.

“This was a great day. I was just on from the start and hitting all my shots. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

Johnson also advances to the state tournament.

Linn-Mar Coach Chris Wundram said capturing the district team title is a big step toward reaching the goal of sending the entire squad to the separate team state tourney.

“We’ve won a Mississippi Valley Conference title the last four years but have always fallen one match short of the state tournament,” he said.

The Lions advance to the substate team tournament at Jefferson on May 19 where they will play either Bettendorf or Pleasant Valley. Kennedy will host Hempstead in preliminary round match Saturday at Coe College. The winner of that match also will advance to Jefferson on May 19 to play Clinton.

The Mustangs lost any chance of finishing ahead of Kennedy and hosting Saturday's match when their doubles team defaulted in the consolation round due to back injury suffered by sophomore Jeff Teng.  Jefferson’s Donald and Jourdan were awarded third place, giving the J-Hawks enough points to finish fourth in the team standings.

CLASS 2A DISTRICT TOURNAMENT
At Linn-Mar

Teams -- 1. Linn-Mar 27, 2. CR Kennedy 19, 3. Dubuque Hempstead 15, 4. CR Jefferson 8, 5. Dubuque Senior 5, 6. Mashalltown 4

Singles

First Round
Noah Mozena (DS) def. Nathan Longfield (DH), 6-2, 6-2
Daniel Britton (CRJ) def. Kalei Platt (Mar), 3-6, 6-4, 7-5
Quinn Jamrock (DS) def. Justin Yuan (DS), 6-4, 6-2
Blake Young (LM) def. Zach Denny (CRJ), 6-1, 6-0

Quarterfinals
Riley Galbraith (CRK) def. Noah Mozena (DS), 6-0, 6-0
Dillon Einck (LM) def. Daniel Britton (CRJ), 6-2, 6-1
Ryan Shomo (Mar) def. Quinn Jamrock (DS), 6-1, 6-2
Nick Johnson (DH) def. Blake Young (LM), 6-0, 6-1

Semifinals
Riley Galbraith (CRK) def. Dillon Einck (LM), 6-0, 6-0
Nick Johnson (DH) def. Ryan Shomo (Mar), 6-3, 6-0

Third Place
Ryan Shomo (Mar) def. Dillon Einck (LM), 6-3, 6-2

Championship
Riley Galbraith (CRK) def. Nick Johnson (DH), 6-1, 6-1

Doubles

First Round
Mozena/Busch (DS) def. Pfeil/Shuman (CRJ), 7-5, 6-1
Teng/Bortscheller (DH) def. Brada/Dalluge (Mar)
Cunningham/Blomberg (CRK) def. Dohner/Salwolke (DS), 6-2, 6-2
White/Tinsman (DH) def. Podhajsky/Lents (Mar), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4

Quarterfinals
Anderson/McCann (LM) def. Mozena/Busch (DS), 6-0, 6-1
Teng/Bortscheller (DH) def. Venkatesh/Martin (CRK), 7-6, 1-6, 6-0
McCann/Kuster (LM) def. Cunningham/Blomberg (CRK), 6-3, 6-0
Donald/Jourdan (CRJ) def. White/Tinsman (DH), 6-0, 6-3

Semifinals
Anderson/McCann (LM) def. Teng/Bortscheller (DH), 6-0, 6-0
McCann/Kuster (LM) def. Donald/Jourdan (CRJ), 6-2, 6-3

Third Place
Jourdan/Donald (CRJ) def. Teng/Bortscheller (DH), injury default

Championship
Anderson/McCann (LM) def. McCann/Kuster (LM), 6-3, 6-2

2-sport star Galbraith takes aim at tennis

With state tournaments on the line, it’s getting down to crunch time for Kennedy’s Riley Galbraith.

He renews his quest for a state tennis title as the undefeated No. 1 seed in district play Thursday morning at Linn-Mar. Then it’s back to Linn-Mar Thursday night for a soccer match as the Cougars wind down the regular season in hopes of a favorable pairing in the substate tournament.

It’s nothing new for the multi-talented Kennedy senior to juggle the two sports during the same playing season. He’s being doing it since he was six years old. And despite dividing time between the tennis court and the soccer field, he plays both at a very high level.

Galbraith, 18, finished fourth in the state tennis tournament last year but came within two points of making it to the finals. He’ll be a favorite again this year, along with the Des Moines Roosevelt opponent who edged him in an epic rain-delayed five-hour match that started outdoors in the morning and ended indoors at night.

A four-year star center midfielder on the Cougar soccer team, he turned down a chance last year to join the elite Eastern Iowa United club team that takes only the best of the best Cedar Rapids and Iowa City youth soccer players.

“I finally had to make a choice between the sports,” said the personable Galbraith, who is also editor-in-chief of Kennedy’s national award-winning school newspaper. “Playing for United would have been full-time and would have taken too much time away from my tennis.

“And my goal is to win the individual state title. I was on the cusp last year. This year I want to win it.”

Still, he has not neglected the sport he admitted was his first love back when he began both while still a little kid. As he’s done for four years now, he tries to play in every varsity tennis match and every varsity soccer match.

Sometimes, as will be the case on Thursday, he goes from one to the other. Only rarely has there been a schedule conflict, with games at the same time or in different towns.

“When that happens,” he said, “I try to go with the one that will help the team the most.”

A year ago, in fact, he planned to do both almost simultaneously. The state tennis tournament was being held in the morning at the Veterans Memorial Tennis Center in Cedar Rapids while Kennedy’s substate soccer game was in the early afternoon at adjacent Kingston Stadium.

Thoughts of changing uniforms and at least going in for penalty kicks between tennis matches were thwarted when rain halted his semifinal battle with Roosevelt’s Naveen Nath at mid-match. Galbraith ended up watching some of the rain-soaked soccer match from the car with his parents, Shelly and Tom.

Then, after taking a 6-5 lead in the third set with Nath when play later resumed inside at Coe College, he lost a heart-breaker to the eventual state runnerup.

Whatever this season holds on the court or on the field, Galbraith intends to stay close to home and play tennis (and perhaps soccer) next year at Coe. His dad, the tennis pro at the Cedar Rapids Country Club, gives lessons at Coe in the off-season so Galbraith has practically grown up at the Clark Racquet Center.

Galbraith will be attending the same college as his older brother Reid, a soccer player at Coe who was on the Kennedy state championship tennis team in 2008.

“It seems like I’m always following in Reid’s footsteps,”  Galbraith said. “He was editor of the school paper, and I wanted to be the editor.

“Now I’m going to follow him at Coe. But he’s got pretty good footsteps to follow. He’s never let me down.”

If there’s one way the two brothers part, however, it’s in their choice of role models. Reid wants to be a lawyer. Riley wants to be more like tennis superstar Serena Williams.

“I saw her play in person for the first time when I was like nine at the U.S. Open,” he explained. “I thought, 'Wow, she’s just amazing.’ She has a real star aura about her.”

With his tenacious manner and the grunts that accompany many of his shots, Galbraith characterized his own approach to the game as equally “intense.”

“On the court, I  might be considered a hothead,” he admitted. “And this guy from Dubuque tried to get me going by calling me 'superstar’ and asking for my autograph.

“But that’s all right. We won our doubles match against him.”

Galbraith's coach at Kennedy, Craig Bova, said his star player is very competitive but never out of line.

“He’s a good kid. He’s just an exceptional athlete. But very grounded and down to earth," said Bova. "And he drives himself to be successful.”

Warriors slam Kennedy in boys tennis

On paper, at least, the boys tennis match Tuesday between Washington and Kennedy looked to be a toss-up.

Both 9-3 in MVC dual conference play behind once-beaten Linn-Mar in the Mississippi Division of the Mississippi Valley Conference, they seemed similarly matched.

Instead, it turned out to be a rout as the Warriors won all but one singles pairing while coasting to an 8-1 victory in the regular season finale at Kennedy.

“I  really thought it would be close, and not so one-sided,” said Kennedy Coach Craig Bova. “We lost a couple of three-setters in singles. If we’d have won those, I think it would have changed the way some of the kids played doubles.”

First-year Washington Coach Rusty Graff was equally surprised by the outcome.

“I wouldn’t have expected it,” he said. “But we played well. And it’s good to see the kids improving at the right time of the year.”

The Warriors host a district tournament Thursday at the Veterans Memorial Tennis Center, while Kennedy has district play Thursday at Linn-Mar.

The match of the day Tuesday was a nearly two-hour slugfest between No. 4 singles players Ian Schweiger of Washington and Brett Blomberg of Kennedy. It started out in sunshine, turned cloudy with drizzle and ended with the lights on.

Marked by long volleys between two very methodical underclassmen, the match went down to the super tiebreaker 11-9 closing by Schweiger.

The Cougars’ only win came from undefeated No. 1 singles leader Riley Galbraith. He fell behind Washington’s  Mitch Blades 3-0 in the first set but rallied for a 6-4, 6-1 victory.

“I kind of choked after getting ahead,” Blades said. “But he’s  a pretty darned good player.”

WASHINGTON 8, KENNEDY 1

Singles

1. Riley Galbraith (K) def. Mitch Blades, 6-4, 6-1.
2. Mitch Anderson (W) def. Mitch Martin, 6-2, 6-1.
3. Clayton Hoyt (W) def. Arjun Venkatesh, 7-6, 6-2.
4. Ian Schweiger (W) def. Brett Blomberg, 6-4, 6-7, 1-0.
5. Reid Rossberger (W) def. Jimmy Cunningham, 0-6, 6-4, 1-0.
6. Blaine Hartman (W) def. Trevor Oates, 6-0, 6-1.

Doubles

1. Anderson/Hoyt (W) def. Galbraith/Martin, 6-3, 6-2.
2. Blades/Rossberger (W) def. Venkatesh/Oates, 6-2, 6-1.
3. Schweiger/Hartman (W) def. Blomberg/Cunningham, 6-2, 6-0.