Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Anthony Medina has long considered himself better at doubles tennis than singles.

After reaching the boys’ state tennis tournament last season in singles and falling short of a top-eight finish, the West High senior is getting a chance to showcase his talent in doubles alongside fellow senior Derek Hua.

“It’s just my volleys, my serves and I think my groundstrokes are a little bit worse than some of the other people,” Medina said after he and Hua won two matches and advanced to the semifinals of the Class 2A state tournament Tuesday at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex. “He’s one of my best friends and I have known him for the longest time.”

Medina started playing tennis in third grade, while Hua did not pick up the game until high school.

They were teammates on West High’s junior varsity team as freshmen and sophomores.

“We always used to hit back in the day,” Hua said. “He is the one that used to hit with me back when I wasn’t as good. … He stuck with me through it and we grew together.”

This season is the first for Hua to reach the individual state tournament.

He and Medina opened the day seeded fourth and were able to escape a tough opening draw against Drew Fenton and Vincent Flynn of Waukee Northwest via super tiebreaker, 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10).

“I just wanted to come out and keep it swinging and I think I did that today,” Hua said. “I’m pretty happy about both of us. I think we were very energetic on the court. I think we played to our strengths and that is ultimately what helped us win the first match, which was a really tight one.”

In the quarterfinal round, the West High teammates dispatched Brock Davis and Preston Haefner from Cedar Rapids Washington, 6-3, 6-2.

“They’ve been kind of in different lanes at the start of the season,” West High coach Marshal Moellers said. “Medina very much favored doubles versus Hua, he felt much more of a singles player. Together, I really like their grouping, They mesh very well. … I think they came out here today very focused, very locked in and knowing what they needed to do.”

A stiff challenge awaits Hua and Medina in the state semifinals, which begin Wednesday at 10 a.m.

The West High tandem will try to oust the top-seeded doubles team of Alex Mirsky and Seppe Frantianni from West Des Moines Valley.

“We definitely know what to do and what is coming for us,” Medina said.

In other 2A state doubles matches, the twosomes of Jack Saunders and Sam Maddhi (Iowa City Liberty), plus Junze Sun and Ishan Harwani (Iowa City West) suffered first round defeats.

In singles play, City High freshman William Feagler and West High freshman Pierce Hribar each won an opening round match.

Feagler defeated fellow freshman Aadil Patel of Johnston, 6-3, 7-5, before falling to Waukee Northwest’s Jake Nelson in the quarterfinal round (6-4, 6-2).

Hribar rallied past Lucas Persson of North Scott via super tiebreaker, 6-7, 6-3, 1-0 (4) and then succumbed to top-seeded Anthony Schulte of Cedar Rapids Prairie (6-0, 6-1).

City High senior Abhay Anil lost his first-round singles match.

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