Highlights of the 2019 PV Tennis Team

The PV Varsity TEAM finished the 2019 regular season with a 12-1 record. The one loss was in the State Championship meet at the State Team Tennis Tournament. The PVJV Tennis Team was 9-0 during the 2019 regular season.

The 2019 Varsity Tennis Team placed first in the PV Invitational, first in the MAC Conference Tournament, and were also District Champions!

In the MAC Conference Tournament, Justin Sehlin was the Champion at #1 Singles, Nathan Wong was the Runner-up at #2 Singles, Jake Dolphin was the Champion at #3 Singles, Muneeb Nadeem was the Champion at #4 Singles, Brady Adams was the Champion at #5 Singles, and Kiran Marla was the Champion at #6 Singles!

In the Doubles portion of the MAC Tournament, the #1 Doubles team, consisting of Jake Dolphin and Nathan Wong, placed second. The #2 Doubles team, consisting of Muneeb Nadeem and Justin Sehlin, were Champions, & the #3 Doubles team consisting of Brady Adams and Kiran Marla were Champions!

Justin Sehlin won the District Singles title and, therefore, qualified for the State Tennis Tournament! Brady Adams placed second in singles and, therefore, also qualified for State! In Doubles, the team of Jake Dolphin and Nathan Wong won the District Doubles title and, therefore, earned a trip to the State Tennis Tournament! The Doubles Team of Kiran Marla and Muneeb Nadeem placed second and also qualified for State!

The PV TEAM won the District Title!

The PV TEAM qualified for Substate Team Tennis and we ended up as one of the top eight teams in the State...again... But much better than top 8, this year!

When Substate Team Tennis finally rolled around, we hosted Cedar Falls...which was forced indoors at the QCTC. We beat Cedar Falls 5-0 in the Substate Team semi-final match. Our next match would be against the team from Linn Mar and this was the State TEAM Quarterfinals...we beat Linn Mar 5-1! We were headed to Top Four...Team State!

But next on the agenda was Individual State Tennis in Cedar Rapids...and we had very high expectations!!!

In Singles, we had high hopes for senior Justin Sehlin and he did not disappoint! Justin battled tough to win his first two matches against Parker Sprague from CR Kennedy and Sam Fouts from Waukee and he found himself in the State Semi-finals! Justin won a tough three setter against Will Blevins from Ankeny Centennial in the semis and was in the State Finals!!! . Justin was dealing with issues associated with leg cramping and he was not able to give his best in a 2-6, 0-6 loss to Rami Scheetz from CR Washington... Still, Justin had just placed second in the State! He had tied Charlie Humes for the best State Singles placing in PV history!!! WAY TO GO JUSTIN!!!

Brady Adams also competed well in his State Singles matches! As a freshman, Brady was going to have a lot of firsts at State Tennis. In the first round, he won his first State Tennis match...7-5, 6-1 over Caleb Weber from SC North! Brady, then, played the eventual State Champ, Rami Scheetz...and lost 0-6, 2-6. He then played the veteran from Mason City, Brian VandenBerg. Brady played him tough...but ended on the wrong side of a 2-6, 6-7 match. Still...great job Brady!

In the Doubles draw, Jake Dolphin and Nathan Wong went into the tournament unseeded...but we knew better...they were looking to prove they were one of the best doubles teams in the State... I think they accomplished that goal! In the first round, Jake and Nathan beat the team of Drey-Frazier from Dowling, 6-3, 6-0. Next, they would play the 3rd seeded team from Valley, WD...Jensen & Sura. The first set (1-6) wasn't very impressive but things would soon start looking up in the second set... Jake and Nathan won a tight second set, 7-5...and they were going into a third set! The third set was looking pretty good for the Spartan duo... As it turned out, Jake and Nathan won 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 and they were in the State Tennis semi-finals! In the semis, they played tough but they needed just a little bit more...they went down to S. Chackalackal-E. Young from IC West in a nail biter...4-6, 5-7. They played for third against the team from Ames...Ellis and Withers. After pulling out a close 6-4 set, Nathan and Jake were in the driver's seat...and won set #2, 6-2, and they had earned a 3rd place finish at State!

Our second doubles entry also wanted to earn some State hardware... Kiran Marla and Muneeb Nadeem would first play the team from Linn Mar, Eells & Tharwani. They pulled out a hard fought 6-4, 7-5 win but would play the top seeded team from Waukee, next. Burmeister & Ecklund won 6-1, 6-3, and Kiran and Muneeb would need to win the next one if they were going to place. The last match of that first day was against Campbell & Chandra from Cedar Falls. Muneeb & Kiran played well and won 6-4, 6-2, to qualify for day two! The next opponent was a familiar one...Porubcin & Singh...our friends from Bettendorf. That didn't go so well in the beginning...and the PV boys lost the first set 1-6... The second set was much better but not good enough...4-6. The guys would play that same Linn Mar team they had played in the first round for 7th place. Unfortunately, after another slow start, they were down a set (1-6). Kiran and Muneeb powered through the second set, 7-5, and it was time for a Supertiebreaker for the match! Unfortunately, the Super went 7-10 for the Spartans but Kiran and Muneeb had placed in State!

The Team Tournament was the last thing on the agenda. We had high hopes! PV played Waukee, first, in a re-match of the two teams. This time it went much better for the Spartans...we had some close matches but they were mostly breaking for the Spartans! Justin Sehlin, Jake Dolphin, Muneeb Nadeem, Kiran Marla, and Brady Adams all won for the Spartans and we had won 5-1 and were in the State Finals!

It was a true match up of the best two teams in the State... Unfortunately, for the Spartans, the IC West Trojans were the better team on that day. Jake Dolphin won his singles match in three sets (6-3, 2-6, 6-4) but we lost the other 5 singles matches. We had to settle for 2nd in the State Team Tournament... Still, not too bad! Congrats Spartan Tennis TEAM!!!

The 2019 season was over...and we had lots of individual and team accomplishments... We were still left with a few disappointments... Still, once again, it was a Great Season by the young men from Pleasant Valley! We're very, VERY, proud of you!

I can't wait until Spring 2020... It's going to be fun to watch the PV Spartan Tennis TEAM compete!