Walkers finish third at COED state meet

URBANDALE — The sibling pairing of Pete and Kate Walker finished third at the 1A State COED tennis meet at Walker Johnston Park in Urbandale, last Tuesday.

The Walke's defeated the Wahlert pairing of Courtney and Brandon Schneider, 6-1 and 6-3 to win the third place match.

They reached the third place match by losing in the semifinals to Camanche's Jalyn Deering and Brayton Rasche, 6-4 and 6-3. The Camanche team went on to win the state title by defeating Columbus' Lindsay McGonegle and Alex Bernt 6-2 and 6-2.

For Pete Walker, it's his second straight season finishing in the top 3 at the COED state meet. Last season, he teamed up with Rachel Pierson to take home second.

The Walkers started out the day with a first round win over Saydel's Katie Gambrel and Alex Gustafson, 6-0 and 6-1. Paige Vannausdle and Jordan Nelson also competed for Red Oak, but they were eliminated in the first round when they lost to Denison-Schleswig's Ipsen Kassidy and TJ Pauley 6-3 and 6-3.

In round two, the Walkers defeated Albia's Brooke Bettis and Hoble Hein 6-0 and 6-0. This led them to the quarterfinals, which they would need a third set super tiebreaker to win.

The Walker's faced Wahlert's Kathleen Hutchinson and Tom Runde, winning the first set 6-1, but losing the second 7-5. They won the third set tiebreaker 10-5 to clinch a spot in the semifinals.

Both Walkers competed at the state tournament this season.
Pete, a junior, finished fourth in the boys 1A singles tournament.

Kate, a freshman,  won her first round match, but lost the next two and was eliminated from consolation.

Kate Walker, as well as Vannausdle were part of the Red Oak team that finished fourth in the state team tournament. Nelson and his teammate Craig White finished seventh in 1A boys' doubles.