Kennedy Boys Tennis

Cougar boys 4th at West tennis tourney

WATERLOO -- The Kennedy boys tennis team finished fourth in the Waterloo West Wahawk tournament Saturday.

Cedar Falls won with 261 points.

Waterloo West Wahawk Tournament

Teams -- 1. Cedar Falls 261, 2. Waterloo West 213, 3. Marshalltown 209, 4. CR Kennedy 146, 5. Waterloo Columbus 131, 6. Decorah 120

Kennedy results

Singles

Flight #1: Arjun Venkatesh 0-5 (7-33 games)

Flight #2: Jimmy Cunningham 2-3 (17-23 games)

Flight #3: Brett Blomberg 3-2 (19-21 games)

Flight #4: Trevor Oates 0-5 (11-29 games)

Flight #5: Corey Duncan 2-3 (18-22 games)

Flight #6: Michael Abramson 2-3 (18-22 games)

Doubles

Flight #1: Cunningham/Blomberg 1-4 (12-28 games)

Flight #2: Venkatesh/Oates 3-2 (23-17 games)

Flight #3: Duncan/Abramson 2-3 (21-19 games)

Galbraith may have a tough choice Saturday

Riley Galbraith made the rounds of friends’ Kennedy High School graduation parties Thursday night, basking in the sweet feel of a big day in tennis on Friday and trying not to puzzle too much over the dilemma he may face Saturday.

With a mild upset victory Friday afternoon, he’s in the semifinals of today’s 2A state tennis tournament. But he’s also a starter and topnotch penalty kicker on the Kennedy soccer team that’s in a 3A substate finals match.

The location of the conflicting events isn’t bad, since the Veterans Memorial Tennis Center is just a parking lot apart from Kingston Stadium.

But the timing is dicey.

The highly-regarded but unseeded Galbraith is set to faceoff with third-seeded fellow junior Naveen Nath of Des Moines Roosevelt on the tennis court at 10 a.m.  They’ve split two previous encounters, so this will be a grudge match.

The winner goes for the state singles title at 2 p.m., while consolation match for third place starts at 1:30.

The soccer game with Cedar Falls kicks off at noon.

“I could do both,” said the two-sport star, who Friday was named Mississippi Valley Conference boys tennis athlete of the year.

“I might do both, but it depends on how I do in my semifinal match. I’d hate to let down my soccer teammates, but if I win I don’t think I could play and then come back and be at my best for the tennis finals.”

Just in case, he’ll have his soccer gear with him. If nothing else, he said might at least kick a penalty shot if needed.

“It could be challenging,,” the personable young Galbraith said last night, “But right now, my goal is to win the state tennis title. That would be huge. It’s the one thing I’ve always wanted.”

To get this far, he first dispatched Cedar Falls sophomore Rex Ju, 6-1, 6-1, then gutted out a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 marathon match over second-seeded Bettendorf senior Kyle Johnson.
A state doubles winner last year, Johnson and partner David DeSimone both qualified in singles this year instead.

“I think I’m peaking at just the right time,” Galbraith said after dominating the clinching third set. “And just making it to Saturday, that takes some of the pressure off.”

In this year’s doubles competition, meanwhile, Linn-Mar’s fourth-seeded Tyler McCann and Gavin Young took two hard-fought matches from Muscatine and Ankeny to reach Saturday morning’s semifinals.

They’ll face the top-ranked Des Moines Roosevelt duo of Will Hemminger and Harrison Kruse, who won the crown two years ago but spent last season at a Florida tennis academy.  Linn-Mar’s Young said, however, that he and  his partner are not intimidated by being underdogs.

“We didn’t play as well as we could have today. This is Tyler’s second time at state and my first. So there was a little bit of nerves. We’re going to have a tough match, but if we play our best I think we’ve got a chance at the finals.”

The Washington Warriors’ Clayton Hoyt and Mitch Anderson, fell to the third-seeded Ames duo Victor Wang and Calvin Song in three sets after winning the first one 6-3.  They bounced back in the consolation bracket, though, with  straight set wins over teams from Marshalltown and Mason City to stay alive for a possible fifth place finish.

“I was very pleased with the way the guys played today,” said Washington Coach Frank Howell, who took over the team at the start of the season after the sudden death of longtime coach Dave Meyer.  “It was tough drawing the No. 3 seed right off. But I was proud of the way they fought back.”

Friday's results

Galbraith edged by his buddy in district finals

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.

Kennedy boys whip Waterloo West in tennis

Robert Sweet, Bryce Blomberg and Arjun Venkatesh won singles and doubles matches to lead Kennedy past Waterloo West, 6-3, Tuesday in a Mississippi Valley Conference boys tennis meet at Kennedy.

Kennedy is 10-3.

Kennedy 6, Waterloo West 3

Singles
1. Armin Muhamedagic (WW) def. Dan Wasta, 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-7)
2. Ethan Gascho (CRK) def. Evan McClain, 7-6 (6), 5-7, 1-0 (10-5)
3. Robert Sweet (CRK) def. Sead Sarkic, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 1-0 (10-8)
4. Bryce Blomberg (CRK) def. Jacob Meyer, 6-4, 6-0
5. Arjun Venkatesh (CRK) def. Derick Vaughn, 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (12-10)
6. Tom Richter (WW) def. Brandon Hendrickson, 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-7)

Doubles
1. Muhamedagic/Sarkic (WW) def. Wasta/Gascho, 6-3, 6-4
2. Venkatesh/Hendrickson (CRK) def. McClain/Vaughn, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 1-0 (10-8)
3. Sweet/Blomberg (CRK) def. Meyer/Richter, 6-1, 6-4