Red Oak girls tennis advance to state semifinals

NORWALK — It's back to the final four for the Red Oak girls tennis team. The Tigers defeated Ballard 5-0 at Norwalk to advance to the state semifinals.

The Tigers were able to get all of their wins in singles.

Kate Walker kicked off the effort with a 6-2 and 6-2 win over Alana Bendler. Erica Sherman went to a second set tiebreaker, but won 6-1 and 7-6 (4) against Jenna Leland.

Grace Blomstedt won 6-0 and 6-1 against Brenna Rip, while Paige Vannausdle defeated Alex Peterson 6-0 and 6-2.

Zoey Baker required three sets to win her match as she defeated Emily Jurgensen 6-1, 3-6 and 1-0 (6).

Micayla Taylor also won her match as she defeated Rylee Cahill 4-6, 7-6 (1) and 1-0 (5).

The dual was in a first to five type of format.

With the win Monday, Red Oak is one of two teams in the final four. The other team to win Monday was Dubuque-Wahlert as they defeated Cedar Rapids Xavier on Monday 5-3.

Waterloo Columbus will play LeMars in the first match as they face off in Fort Dodge at 3 p.m. The other meet will be Keokuk versus Assumption. Those two will face each other in Iowa City at 3 p.m.

This year's state final four will take place at the Ankeny Tennis Complex at the Prairie Ridge Sports Complex on June 1.