Walker plus Blomstedt and Taylor qualify for state tennis

 RED OAK — The Red Oak girls tennis team will once again be sending multiple qualifiers to the state tournament.

For the fourth straight year, Kate Walker will be competing in singles.

Walker, a senior, defeated Glenwood’s Jana King 6-2 and 6-1 in the finals of the regional tennis tournament last Thursday at Red Oak High School.

Sarah Behrens finished third in the singles bracket, defeating Sarah Umberger of Glenwood 8-5.

The doubles qualifier for Red Oak will feature Grace Blomstedt and Micayla Taylor.

The pairing defeated Clarinda’s Kayla Rogers and Sarah Cabeen in the finals.

Rogers and Cabeen took the first set 6-0. However, Blomstedt and Taylor responded by winning the second and third set 6-1 and 6-2.

It’s the third straight year  Blomstedt has qualified for doubles. The senior has accom plished this feat with three different players, including Taylor.

In 2013, Blomstedt was a sophomore when she first qualified for state with doubles partner Zoey Baker.

The pairing finished fourth that season.

Last year, Blomstedt qualified for state with Erica Sherman. They too finished fourth at state.

This will be Taylor’s first time as a qualifier in doubles.

Walker, meanwhile, has her best chance to win a state title after two top-five finishes in the previous two seasons.

In 2013, Walker finished fifth at the state meet. Last year, Walker was in the championship match against Haley Resnick of Davenport Assumption. She took the first set 6-4, but lost the next two to Resnick as Walker took the runner-up title.

The other singles qualifiers in for state include Denison-Schleswig’s Mara Pirscoveanu, LeMars’ Emily Ahlers, Ballard’s Emily Jurgensen, Norwalk’s Liz Nimmo, Wahlert’s Audrey Hinz, Aplington-Parkersburg’s Haley Schneiderman, Waverly-Shell Rock’s Hannah Fox, Osage’s Amber Schwarting, Cedar Rapids Xavier’s Allison Jasper, Camanche’s Maddie Parker, Maharshi-Fairfield’s Dia Huggins, West Burlington Notre Dame’s Stephanie Wills, Grinnell’s Lily Hamilton and Pella’s Lily Roozeboom.

The doubles qualifiers include Creston’s Jenna Taylor and Alli Thomsen and Cailtin McIlravy and Sydney Dunphy, Spirit Lake Okoboji’s Hanna Schoning and Ryan Petievich and Denison-Schleswig’s Amber Hrabijk and Jackie Ingram, Waterloo Columbus’ two teams (Olivia Fain and Lauren McManus and Karlee Sinnott and Brianee Eighme), Waverly-Shell Rock’s Kayla Reusche and Chelsea Poesch and Charles City’s Megan Miller and Hannah Carr, Cedar Rapids Xavier’s two doubles teams (Claire and Jeanne Bouchard and Page Edens and Alexa DeVeries), Keokuk’s Lakyn Boltz and Alexis Kemp, Fairfield’s Harley Cook and Carley Williams, Pella Christian’s Andrea DeBruin and Rachel Tvedt and Grinnell’s Maddie Krumm and Kiara Peterson.

The 1A state singles and doubles tournament will take place at the Ankeny Tennis Complex in Ankeny June 4-5.

Red Oak was scheduled to play against Shenandoah in the team tennis regional final on Saturday. However, the meet was postponed and was played Tuesday afternoon in Shenandoah. Results weren’t available as of press time. We’ll post an update online at redoakexpress.com

Should Red Oak win, they would play Ballard Wednesday at 3 p.m. in Norwalk.

Hawkeye 10 meet

The 15 straight conference winning streak was snapped last Monday when the Red Oak girls’ tennis team finished in a four-way tie for second. Denison-Schleswig won the tournament with 26 points. The last time Red Oak didn’t win a conference title was 1999.

Red Oak finished with a score of 19 points. They were tied with Clarinda, Creston and Shenandoah.

The Tigers did have a conference champion in the No. 1 doubles team of Blomstedt and Taylor. They defeated Denison-Schleswig’s team of Amber Hrabik and Jacque Ingram 6-1 and 6-2 in the final.

In quarterfinals, Blomstedt and Taylor defeated Creston’s Alli Thomsen and Sydney Dunphy 8-4. In the semifinals, they defeated Clarinda’s Kayla Rogers and Sarah Cabeen 9-8 (2).

In No. 1 singles, Kate Walker took third when she defeated Creston’s Jenna Taylor 8-1. Walker defeated Hannah Dailey in the first round 8-3, but fell to Lewis Central’s Abby Bergsten in the semifinals 9-7.

Red Oak’s other key finisher was in No. 2 doubles when the team of Behrens and Tannah Halvin took fourth. The pair lost 8-5 in the third place match to the Denison-Schleswig team of Olivia Ipsen and Sophia Schultz.