After receiving a bye for the first round of the team state tournament, West hosted the Class 2A Region 2 May 20. The meet, scheduled to take place at the West tennis courts, was moved across the street to the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation due to rain throughout the day. Going into the tournament, West had a strong 13-2 season record, posting regular season wins against City High (8-1), Liberty (8-1) and Dubuque Hempstead (7-2), the other teams in their region.  

City High

Beginning the day at 9 a.m., West competed against cross-town rival City High. Because the meet was moved to the HTRC, each matchup had three courts to use, drawing out the length of the singles matches. Both West and City were missing their top singles players (Sasha Postnikov ’25 and Amelia Wolfe, respectively), so athletes from both teams stepped up to play higher positions. 

To begin the meet, Iris Vasi ’28, Sophie Singh ’27 and Grace Wang ’27 took to the HTRC courts to compete against their City opponents from the regular season. Wang took care of business quickly, winning her match at 3 Singles 6-1, 6-0. Following her match, City’s Hattie Conover flipped her match against Singh. Marie Stier ’25 followed shortly after, securing her match with a decisive 6-0, 6-1 win. Vasi, after a closely contested first set, pulled through a strong 6-1 second set win at 1 Singles. Elsie Gross ’27 and Claire Hahn ’25 stepped on court together at 5 and 6 Singles, respectively. The match was clinched after wins from both Gross and Hahn, ending the meet 5-1 without going to doubles. 

Note: wins are italicized

Singles

Vasi: 7-6 (7-5), 6-1

Singh: 2-6, 6-2, 0-1 (7-10)

Wang: 6-1, 6-0

Stier: 6-0, 6-1

Gross: 6-0, 6-4

Hahn: 6-3, 6-1

Dubuque Hempstead

After winning against City at 12:15 p.m., West took a lunch break before playing Dubuque Hempstead at 1 p.m., also at the HTRC. Dubuque Hempstead went into the regional finals without dropping a match, posting a 5-0 win against Liberty in the regional semi-finals that morning. 

In singles, all six singles matches went on court at 1 p.m. ready to fight for the state tournament qualification. Stier defeated her opponent in under an hour, posting a 6-0, 6-2 win. Hahn finished next, ultimately falling to her opponent at 6 Singles. Gross, after a strong start, fell short in the third-set tiebreak. The top three singles matches were closely contested, with tiebreakers in every match. Singh fought back in her match to secure a 5-7, 6-0, 1-0 (10-6) win. Wang’s first set took nearly an hour, but she ultimately fell 6-7 (3-7), 4-6. However, the longest match occurred at 1 Singles, with Vasi putting up a fight against Hempstead’s Claire Kelley. After splitting sets, the pair fought through back-and-forth points, until Kelley ultimately secured a 15-13 win against Vasi, putting Dubuque Hempstead in the lead 4-2 going into doubles.

West’s team has a strong record in doubles, often sweeping the doubles matches in the regular season. 3 Doubles made quick work, sweeping their match in 12 straight games. 2 Doubles followed closely after with a 6-2, 6-2 win. However, with the meet tied at 4-4, the final came down to 1 Doubles. Missing the doubles state-qualifying team of Postnikov/Stier proved detrimental to West, as Hahn/Stier ended up falling short 6-7 (3-7), 3-6. 

Note: wins are italicized

Singles:

Vasi: 6-2, 4-6, 0-1 (13-15) 

Singh: 5-7, 6-0, 1-0 (10-6)

Wang: 6-7 (3-7), 4-6

Stier: 6-0, 6-2

Gross: 6-0, 3-6, 0-1 (6-10)

Hahn: 3-6, 2-6

Doubles:

Hahn/Stier: 6-7 (3-7), 3-6 

Vasi/Wang: 6-2, 6-2

Gross/Singh: 6-0, 6-0

Postnikov/Stier will compete again May 30-31 in the individual state tournament hosted by the HTRC. Though unseeded, the pair aims to finish their senior season with a strong showing at the tournament.