Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Affixed to the fence near the entrance to the West High tennis courts are a series of banners that pay homage to the storied past of one of the most successful programs in state history.

One those banners are the names of the past state tennis champions at West High along with the years the Trojans have claimed state team titles.

Pierce Hribar and Aryan Harwani glanced at those banners daily and imagined someday seeing their names listed among the program’s most successful players.

On Thursday Hribar and Harwani earned their spot in West High tennis history.

Hribar and Harwani completed an impressive run through the Class 2A state doubles bracket winning the state title with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over the Johnston tandem of sophomores Srihari Kumaresan and Aadil Patel in the state title match at West High.

“We’ve been trying for this all season,” Hribar said. “There are banners on our court that have all the names of the past champions and I think we’ve wanted that since the start of the season and we’ve been working for that all year. It was pure motivation to get on there.”

Hribar and Harwani become the seventh state doubles champion in West High history and the first since Jayden Shin and Samir Singh who the 2A title in 2022.

“This means everything in the world,” Harwani said. “The state title is amazing but more than that I love the journey. Doing it with (Pierce) it was unreal, incredible truthfully.”

Harwani and Hribar were impressive all season racking up a 17-1 record in doubles play on their way to the state title.

They duo was at their best over the past two days at the state tournament.

Top-seeded Harwani and Hribar didn’t drop a set in four state tournament wins capped by a two-set victory over the second-seeded Johnston squad in the final.

“There were a couple of injuries, a couple of setbacks, a couple of minor mental things but I think we just stayed on track,” Harwani said. “I think that’s what set us apart.”

The West High tandem defeated Miles Steffensmeier and Noah Tingley of Waukee Northwest 6-3-, 6-3 in opening round and downed Rob Beecher and Marek Dessimoz of West Des Moines Dowling 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

On Thursday Hribar and Harwani just kept cruising.

They defeated the Mason City team of Seth Vandenberg and Trenton Kruger that would go on the place third 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals before downing Johnston in the finals.

The lone loss this season for Hribar and Harwani came on April 11 to the Class 1A state doubles championship team of Charlie LeGrand and Jacob Schmit of Cedar Rapids Xavier.

“We had a loss early in the season where we won the first set and ended up losing the match and I think that really motivated us and pushed us toward this,” Hribar said. “We knew we really needed to step it up if we wanted to be where we are right now.”

The West High team trailed early in the opening set but found its rhythm late in a 7-5 win.

“We love the pressure,” Harwani said. “We love every second of it.”

Harwani and Hribar were solid in the second set, especially on serve while securing the state title.

“I think we played a really good match,” Hribar said. “We never went down a break the whole time, we were really solid on our serves, we went up a break the second set and lost it but we got it right back.”

Harwani, a freshman and Hribar a sophomore have already thought about adding more than just one set of names to the banners at West High.

“We might be right back in the same spot next year and try to do this again,” Hribar said. “We might try to keep doing this until I graduate.”

West High sophomore Prabhas Gupta finished eighth in the Class 2A singles.

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