Photo Gallery by Jeff Yoder

Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Coming off a magical season in which it pulled off the rare tennis triple crown the theme for West High in 2018 has been grinding out history.

That mantra has never fit the Trojans better than it has over the past week.

In a seven-day span top-ranked West High faced a pair of top-five opponents in previous No. 1 and defending state runner-up Linn-Mar and No. 5 Cedar Rapids Washington.

Surrounding those matches was an unusual Thursday night double dual, a home match with Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Tuesday’s annual meeting with cross-town rival with City High.

West High made it through unscathed but it was, in every sense, a grind.

“It’s just been a grind,” West High junior Jack Wenzel said. “We’ve been practicing really hard in between all those matches just trying to fine tune our strokes. We are just trying to play our best every time out.”

West High hasn’t just survived the grind it has embraced it which was the plan for West High coach Mitch Gross.

Class 2A No. 1 West High (11-0) continued its busy stretch with an impressive 9-0 win over City High (1-11) on Tuesday in a Mississippi Valley Conference match at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Center.

“Our theme this year has been grinding out history,” West High coach Mitch Gross said. “For a lot of reasons that’s kind of what we’ve had to do is keep grinding.”

The grueling stretch of six matches in seven days began last Tuesday with an exhausting 5-4 win over previously top-ranked Linn-Mar that came down to the final match.

West High swept Cedar Falls and Waterloo West on Thursday and added another MVC sweep on Saturday, dispatching of fifth-ranked Washington and Kennedy.

“Linn-Mar was a big win, we were ecstatic about it, but we had to move on,” West High junior Sam Shin said. “We knew we couldn’t keep celebrating we knew we had to get on the grind and focus.”

West High wasn’t perfect during its busy week but it wasn’t off by much.

The 9-0 win over City High on Tuesday was the fourth time during the stretch in which the Trojans didn’t drop a single match.

“It is just that part of the season that you just have to plow through,” Gross said. “Everyone is tired physically and mentally.”

West High was impressive against its cross-town rival on Tuesday failing to drop a set and losing just six games.

“Playing our cross-town rival we had a little motivation to play better,” Wenzel said. “We always want to beat them and play well.”

The grind continues for West High this week.

West High travels to Cedar Rapids Jefferson on Thursday and hits the road to take on third-ranked and unbeaten West Des Moines Valley and sixth-ranked West Des Moines Dowling in a double dual on Saturday.  

“We had five meets in seven days last week, we have our cross-time rival today and we go to Des Moines on Saturday for a double dual against the number three and number six teams in the state so it doesn’t end,” Gross said. “It’s the time of the year where you are on the cusp on the postseason but you still have to finish the regular season strong.”

West High 9, City High 0

Singles

1. Sam Shin (ICW) def. Kahleb Fallon 6-0, 6-0

2. Sasha Chackalackal (ICW) def. Victor Kalil 6-0, 6-1

3. Jack Wenzel (ICW) def. Billy Samuelson 6-0, 6-1

4. Eli Young (ICW) def. Jack Motto 6-0, 6-0

5. Brad DiLeo (ICW) def. Miles Pei 6-1, 6-1

6. Mukundan Kasturirangan (ICW) def. Ethan Snee 6-0, 6-1

Doubles

1. Shin/Chackalackal (ICW) def. Fallon/Kalil 6-0, 6-0

2. Wenzel/Kasturirangan (ICW) def. Samuelson/Motto 6-0, 6-0

3. Young/DiLeo (ICW) def. Pei/Snee 6-1, 6-0