Tigers get runner-up finishes at state

 ANKENY — For what is believed to be the first time in school history, the Red Oak girls’ tennis team had finalists in both singles and doubles at Friday’s Class 1A State Tennis Tournament. 

Kate Walker competed in the singles final for a second straight year, while doubles partners Grace Blomstedt and Micayla Taylor made their first appearance together in the finals.

Walker and the team of Blomstedt and Taylor both battled to the end but both ended up claiming runner-up titles during Friday afternoon’s final in Ankeny.

Walker lost in an all-Hawkeye 10 final to Denison-Schleswig’s Mara Pirscoveanu, who took the match in straight sets 6-3 and 6-1.

“I knew that final was going to be tough,” Walker said. “I was thankful for making it that far and I’m just happy that I had the opportunity to play her because she’s a really good player.”

This was the first meeting between the two players this season.

Walker kept close early with Pirscoveanu, tying the first set 3-3. However, Pirscoveanu relied on her power to win the first set and take control for most of the second.

“It was actually kind of refreshing for a change, because I’m not a fan of being patient and having to play those long points out like I did in the semifinals. I won, but it definitely took a lot out of me. So, it was fun to get the points over with quick, whether I won or lost. It was exciting tennis to play,” Walker said. “With [older brother] Pete [Walker], my dad [Johnny Walker] and [my uncle] Todd [Reisinger], hitting with them, it wasn’t a terrible change to get used to.”

Leading up to the finals, Pirscoveanu hadn’t faced many solid challengers. All her wins during the tournament came in straight sets. The exchange student from Romania dropped just two games in her first three matches at state.

“She had a really great cross-court forehand and she really just hurt me a couple of times on it, but I thought I played decent and tried my hardest,” Walker said. “That’s all I was really hoping for.”

Walker began her state tournament Thursday with a 6-0 and 6-1 win over Lily Roozeboom of Pella. She followed that up later in the afternoon with a 6-4 and 6-0 win in the quarterfinals against Emily Ahlers fo LeMars.

In the semifinals Friday morning, Walker found herself in a marathon with Cedar Rapids Xavier’s Allison Jasper. 

Despite the long rallies, Walker won the match in straight sets 6-2 and 6-3.

Walker said that is the longest match she has played this season.

“With her, I just had to be really patient and I’m not very good at that anymore,” she said. 

Walker finishes second for the second straight year. Last year, she went three sets with Davenport Assumption’s Haley Resnick, as Walker finished runner-up.

The senior finishes her girls’ high school tennis career with three top five (two of which are runner-up) finishes at the state tournament.

In the doubles final, it was new faces and new pairings as Blomstedt and Taylor lost in three sets to Waverly-Shell Rock’s Chelsea Poesch and Kayla Reusche.

 The Waverly-Shell Rock pairing, which was seeded fourth, had reached the final after knocking off No. 1 seeded Olivia Fain and Lauren McManus of Waterloo Columbus in the semifinals.

Blomstedt and Taylor, meanwhile, entered the final having not dropped a set during the entire tournament.

Blomstedt and Taylor struggled early in the first set as Waverly-Shell Rock took a 3-0 lead. The tandem won a couple games, but Poesch and Reusche won the first set 6-2.

“They were aggressive at the net, which helped them most of the time, but they also made some silly errors,” Blomstedt said.

After a few foot faults and some questionable line calls, a tournament official acted as a line judge to monitor the match a little more closely.

With the game official on hand in the second set, Blomstedt and Taylor took advantage and kept their championship hopes alive by winning 6-3.

Blomstedt and Taylor took the first game of the second set and would hold a close lead throughout. Poesch and Reusche tried to fight their way back, but they struggled at the end of the set. Two double faults by Waverly-Shell Rock led to Red Oak clinching the second set.

“I think we just decided we knew we could play better, so we decided we’re going to. We put it in our mindset that we could,” Blomstedt said. “

After a short set break, Blomstedt and Taylor struggled out of the gate as Poesch and Reusche continued to attack. Waverly-Shell Rock would win five of the first six games in the first set.

“We got down early in the third set and it was hard to come back from that,” Taylor said. 

With the seventh game at 30-all, Red Oak powered through for two net points, to keep their hopes alive and cut the lead to 5-2.

Blomstedt, in particular, continued crushing net points in the eighth game, including one final one to win the game and soon the lead was down to 5-3.

Red Oak fought off one match point in the ninth game, but couldn’t fend off the second as Poesch and Reusch won the third set 6-3.

Unofficially, Red Oak combined six winners alone in the third set, while Waverly-Shell Rock’s doubles team had eight.

For Blomstedt, the second-place finish is her best in three doubles appearances at the state tournament. The two previous years, Blomstedt finished fourth (with Zoey Baker in 2013 and Erica Sherman last season).

Friday morning’s straight-set semifinal win over Claire and Jeanne Bouchard was significant for Blomstedt, as it was her first at state.

“That was my goal going into it,” she said. “We didn’t want to put ourselves in that position, so we wanted to get that first win today.”

Blomstedt and Taylor defeated the Bouchards 6-2 and 6-4 to get over the semifinal hump.

It’s Taylor’s first appearance in state doubles for Red Oak. The senior has previously competed for Red Oak in state team tennis. 

“I worked in the offseason and I think I improved a lot,” Taylor said. “I think my addition to Grace is good. We like to play the lob game and that works for us.”

The state tournament began for Blomstedt and Taylor Thursday morning when they defeated Harley Cook and Karley Williams in straight sets, 6-2 and 6-0

In the quarterfinals, they went to a tiebreaker in the first set, but would hang on to get the win and get a spot in the semifinals when they defeated Waterloo Columbus’ Karlee Sinnott and Brianne Eighme 7-6 (0) and 6-1.

“I think having more competitive teams, that was fun,” Taylor said.

It’s the best finish for a Red Oak girls’ doubles team at state since Emily and Rachel Pierson won back-to-back state titles in 2010 and 2011.

Walker, Blomstedt and Taylor weren’t the only Hawkeye 10 placewinners at state. In doubles, Creston’s Jenna Taylor and Allie Thomsen took sixth when they lost to Columbus’ Sinnott and Eighme. Meanwhile, the district runner-up from Clarinda, Kayla Rogers and Sarah Cabeen, finished seventh when they won in three sets over Keokuk’s Lakyn Boltz and Alexis Kemp.

In singles, Glenwood’s Jana King finished eighth after losing to Aplington-Parkersburg’s Haley Schneiderman in the seventh-place match.