The North Iowa Cedar League Girls Tennis Tournament was held Monday at Byrnes Park in Waterloo. Columbus Catholic was the champion, Dike-New Hartford was the runner-up, Aplington-Parkersburg was third, South Hardin was fourth and Grundy Center was seventh.
In the round robin tournament, Dike-New Hartford’s Claire McCumber and Indee Grassley took the titles at #3 and #5 singles. McCumber and Grassley on what it takes to win a singles title.
“I started off the morning, had tough games going on into the day,” McCumber says. “Just had to stay focused and do my best.
“I was undefeated, like Claire said, just got to stay focused,” Grassley says. “And when you come across the tough competition, you got to stay focused even more and just take a deep breath, step back, and just really focus in.”
Interview with McCumber and Grassley:
The Aplington-Parkersburg doubles team of Adria Neymeyer/Peyton Klooster won the #1 doubles title. Klooster says the team’s persistence throughout a tough strength of schedule has the team prepared to perform well in this critical part of the season.
“I think we overall, played very good today as a team and I also could see a lot of improvement,” Klooster says. “As for me personally, I think playing in this weather, whether it’s wind, sunshine, you have to play through all of it. And I think just keeping at it, especially with the sport of tennis, just keeping at it, playing over and over again makes you better.”
Interview with Klooster:
At #2 doubles, the Dike-New Hartford duo of Claire McCumber/Addy Joslin placed first.
Local runner-ups included Adria Neymeyer, AP at #1 singles, Klooster, AP at #2 singles, Joslin, DNH at #4 singles, Aida Tott/Izzy Norton, DNH at #1 doubles.
Action will continue all day Tuesday at Byrnes Park as the NICL boys tennis teams will compete in their conference tournament.
