Glenwood eighth at state tennis

The Glenwood boys tennis team placed eighth at the Class 1A Iowa State Tennis Tournament held at Iowa City’s Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Center last Wednesday.

The Rams dropped their quarterfinal match 5-2 to eventual champion Cedar Rapids Xavier to finish eighth. The Saints would go on to defeat Decorah 5-0 in the semifinals and then Pella 5-1 in the finals to capture the state team title.

Glenwood coach Grant Stivers knew heading into the match, Xavier would be a tall task. His Rams had seen the Saints in the state singles and doubles tournament the week prior.

“I’m very proud of the showing we had at team state,” said Stivers. “We knew from seeing Xavier at individual state it was going to be a tough task to beat them. Ultimately, I’m just grateful the guys had an opportunity to play the best, and take two points off of them. Decorah and Pella, two very good teams as well, were only able to take one point off of them. It was a great ending to a phenomenal 2023 tennis season.”

Xavier opened the match with straight singles wins by Charlie Legrand, Ryan Schmit and Jacob Schmit before Glenwood’s Brody Taylor and Will Getter picked up back-to-back wins.

Taylor knocked off Bradey Johnson 6-3, 6-3 in the No. 4 singles match and Will Getter downed Andrew Miller 7-5, 6-1 in the No. 5 singles. But the Rams could not capitalize on that momentum.

The Saints sealed the win with victories by Quincey Johnson 6-2, 6-0 over Liam Hays in the No. 6 singles match and by Legrand and Ryan Schmit 6-1, 6-0 over Harger and Anderson in the No. 1 doubles match.

The Rams won 13 of 14 duals this season and reached the state tournament for the first time since placing fourth in 2016.

Class 1A State Quarterfinals
Cedar Rapids Xavier 5,
Glenwood 2

Singles
No. 1 - Charlie Legrand , X, defeated Tyler Harger, G, 6-0, 6-0.
No. 2 - Ryan Schmit, X, defeated Kayden Anderson, G, 6-2, 6-3.
No. 3 - Jacob Schmit, X, defeated Ben Batten, G, 6-2, 6-4.
No. 4 - Brody Taylor, G, defeated Bradey Johnson, X, 6-3, 6-3.
No. 5 - Will Getter, G, defeated Andrew Miller, X, 7-5, 6-1.
No. 6 - Quincey Johnson, X, defeated Liam Hays, G, 6-2, 6-0.

Doubles
No. 1 - Legrand/Schmit, X, defeated Anderson/Harger, G, 6-1, 6-0.