Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

ANKENY – The regular season meeting between Class 2A tennis powers West High and Linn-Mar wasn’t decided until the final match.

The rematch was even closer but this time it was Linn-Mar that made the plays late.

Second-ranked Linn-Mar swept doubles matches to rally for a 5-4 win over top-ranked West High in a wild Class 2A state title match on Tuesday.

“Obviously we are really disappointed in the outcome but we are not disappointed in the meet itself, it was a great meet that came down to the wire,” West High coach Mitch Gross said. “You have to take advantage of opportunities and we had a lot of opportunities and we didn’t convert those.”

Linn-Mar (19-1) avenged a 5-4 regular season loss to West High (18-1) and a 5-1 loss to the Trojans in last year’s title match with the win and stopped West High short of a second 2A three-peat in the past seven seasons.

It was the third state title for Linn-Mar and first since defeating West High in the 2015 title match.

West High and Linn-Mar have combined to win the last seven 2A titles and have met in the title match four times in the past five years, splitting those meetings two apiece.

“It’s hard to be disappointed because going into this season I thought Linn-Mar was the best team,” Gross said. “I thought at the dual meet we probably overachieved a little bit.”

West High led the regular season meeting 4-2 after singles and secured the win when Brad DiLeo and Eli Young defeated Jack Gertsen and Jackson Eells in straight sets at number three doubles.

It was a similar scenario on Tuesday as West High got singles wins from Jack Wenzel, Young, DiLeo and Mukundan Kasturirangan to take a 4-2 lead heading to doubles.

Young battled back from an opening set loss for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 win over Zach Glanz at number four singles while DiLeo held on for a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 win over Gertsen.  

“Our three, four, five and six have been our strength all year,” Gross said. “If Eli and Brad don’t win those third sets this is all for not. I am very, very proud of them. Eli was very clutch. I thought Brad in singles just played great.”

This time the Trojans couldn’t close it out.

Ben Hediger and Jackson Eells defeated Wenzel and Kasturirangan 6-1, 7-6 (8-6) at number two doubles to pull the Lions to within 4-3.

Both the final two matches were tied at one set apiece when a thunderstorm forced play to be moved from Prairie Ridge Tennis Center in Ankeny to indoor courts at Aspen Athletic in Urbandale.

West High could never regain the momentum indoors.

DiLeo and Young led 2-1 early at number three doubles but Gertsen and Huffman rallied for a 6-3, 6-7 (7-2), 6-3 win.

“We played a really good doubles match and I give the Linn-Mar team a lot of credit,” DiLeo said. “They played great.”

 The match came down to number one singles where Luke VanDonslear and Glanz held on for a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 over Sam Shin and Sasha Chackalackal.

“We had some momentum outside winning those two second sets and we had the weather delay and had to move indoors and there is no doubt that hurts momentum a little bit but that’s not an excuse,” Gross said. “We had chances to win in here and didn’t pull the trigger.”

After last season West High had to replace its top two players from its state title team.

DiLeo is the only senior in the West High lineup this season that features a pair of freshman in Young and Kasturirangan

“We have two freshmen in the lineup and we are a pretty young team,” Gross said. “It’s pretty impressive, there just aren’t a lot of teams that can lose what we lost from our lineup and be back in the state finals.”

Linn-Mar 5, West High 4

Singles

1. Luke VanDonslear (LM) def. Sam Shin 6-3, 7-5

2. Ben Hediger (LM) def. Sasha Chackalackal 6-3, 6-3

3. Jack Wenzel (ICW) def. Lucas Huffman 6-0, 7-5

4. Eli Young (ICW) def. Zach Glanz 3-6, 7-5, 6-4

5. Brad DiLeo (ICW) def. Jack Gertsen 7-5, 4-6, 6-4

6. Mukundan Kasturirangan (ICW) def. Jackson Eells 6-4, 6-1 

Doubles

1. VanDonslear/Glanz (LM) def. Shin/Chackalackal 6-2, 4-6, 6-4

2. Hediger/Eells (LM) def. Wenzel/Kasturirangan 6-1, 7-6 (8-6)

3. Huffman/Gertsen (LM) def. DiLeo/Young 6-3, 6-7 (7-2), 6-3