Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

WAUKEE – The sports adage most fitting for the opening day of the state tennis meet is the old ‘survive and advance’ term.

West High did both on Tuesday at the Class 2A state tennis tournament and now the Trojans will get their opportunity at a state title

Second-seeded West High (13-1) defeated Waukee 5-0 in the quarterfinals and outlasted Johnston 5-2 in the semifinals on a nearly nine-hour day on Tuesday at Waukee Northwest High School.

The Trojans will face top-seeded and two-time defending state champion Waukee Northwest (11-0) in the 2A state title match at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

“Right now I would say it’s more of a sense of relief,” West High junior Aaron Kang said. “I think we will get that sense of celebration later on tonight and then we will lock in for tomorrow.”

Tuesday was a long day, challenging day for West High but the Trojans handled it well.

West High swept the three doubles matches to take control early in the 5-0 quarterfinal win over Waukee.

State doubles champions Ary Harwani and Pierce Hribar defeated Ryan Nguyen and Elijah Thole in number one doubles 6-2, 6-2.

Kang and Jensen Lin defeated Arjun Bajwa and Henry Abbott at number two doubles 7-5, 6-3 and Matthew Dockery-Jackson and Prabhas Gupta defeated Jaren Jernberg and Koen Krehbiel 7-6 (7-6), 6-2.

Kang defeated Elijah Thole 6-4, 6-4 at number four singles and Hribar defeated Nguyen 6-4, 6-2 at number two singles to secure the 5-0 win.

“It’s a really difficult day and I thought they handled it really well,” West High coach Marshal Moellers said. “I was really proud of how we handled everything.”

West High went 2-1 in doubles in the win over Johnston and got singles victories from Harwani, Gupta and Lin to close out the win.

“Now that we are playing doubles first you have two matches that you are almost guaranteed that you have to play before you can close out the meet and then you get a one-hour break and then you are right back at it for an even more challenging match,” Moellers said. “It’s grueling, it’s so challenging for these players.”

In a rematch of the state doubles final last week the Johnston team of Srihari Kumaresan and Addil Patel defeated Hribar and Harwani 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 at number one singles.

West High responded with wins at two and three doubles.

Kang and Linn defeated Jack Mills and Owen Huneke at number two 6-1, 6-3 and Dockery-Jackson and Gupta defeated Henry Zou and Ben Keeling 6-2, 6-4.

“The hardest thing is finishing the first meet and just getting the energy back and stepping back on the court when you aer feeling so heavy like your feet are stuck to the ground and you aren’t feeling your stokes,” Kang said. “That becomes the biggest challenge of a long day.”

Harwani defeated Srihari Kumaresen 6-0, 6-4 at number one singles, Gupta defeated Jack Mills 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 at number three singles and Jensen Lin defeated Ben Keeling 6-4, 6-4 at number six singles to lock up the 5-2 win.

West High will be making its first state title match since winning the 2023 state title and the 17^th title appearance in program history.

Waukee Northwest will play for the state title for the fourth consecutive season.

The two-time defending state champions, Waukee Northwest has defeated West High 5-0 in the 2A semifinals each of the past two seasons.

“This is our first time we’ve been to the finals in a couple of years so it means a lot,” Kang said. “(Waukee Northwest) has pretty much dominated every meet they have played so I think it’s a huge challenge and that’s what we are looking forward to.”

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