Neither was seeded coming into the girls high school state tennis tournament, but either a doubles team from Cedar Rapids Washington or Kennedy will be playing for the Class 2A championship Friday afternoon.

After pulling off a pair of second round upsets Thursday at the Veterans Memorial Tennis Center, Warriors Lilly Hartman and Rina Moore face Cougars Sarah Lasecki and Jessica Pedersen in Friday morning's semifinals.

The winner will play for the title against the top-seeded Urbandale team or fourth-seeded Ames.

The local girls have played once before this season, with the Kennedy duo winning 10-6 in a dual meet on May 8.

“It should be a good game,” said a confident Lasecki of the rematch.  “But we beat them once, so we just want to beat them again.”

Don’t count on the same outcome, contend the Washington girls and their coach.

“The other time we played them was the first time we’d played together as a team,” Hartman pointed out.

And according to first-year Washington Coach Liz Bertrand, “They’re a completely different team than they were three weeks ago.”

Both teams, indeed, turned in impressive performances on Thursday to advance into the championship bracket.

Linn-Mar’s Anna Schlueter and Mackenzie Luehring were eliminated after dropping their opener, 6-2, 6-1, to fourth-seeded Ann Ku and Taylor Thoen of Ames and then falling 6-1 6-2 to Iowa City West’s Elena Wilson and Addy Riley in the consolation bracket.

After a lackluster 6-3, 7-5 victory over Fort Dodge, Cougars Lasecki and Pedersen came back with a dominant 6-1, 6-3 pounding of third-seeded seniors Jenni Aldrich and Lucy Korsakov of West Des Moines Valley.  The Valley girls were 10-0 entering the tournament.

Senior Lasecki and freshman partner Pedersen, meanwhile, were 14-1 with the single loss coming at the hands of powerful Iowa City High’s top tandem.

“Seedings are a lot of fluff in my opinion,” said Lasecki, who is playing in her fourth straight state tournament with four different partners.  “I thought we deserved a seed, but that’s just me. It doesn’t matter. We just wanna beat whoever we’re playing.”

Kennedy Coach Joe Benedict thought his two stars were a little nervous in their first match Thursday but came on strong in the second.

“Once they got the jitters out of the way, they were very solid,” said the veteran Cougar mentor.

Washington's Bertrand, on the other hand, felt her recently united doubles entry was tough all day despite having to endure three-set matches in both of their wins.

“I was very proud of them,” Bertrand said. “Even when it lost them some points they kept playing aggressively.”

In what sophomore Hartman called a “marathon,” she and her junior partner Moore first dispatched Urbandale’s No. 2 team, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.

“I thought we got a little tentative in the second set,” Hartman said. “But then we went back to playing like we did at the start.”

That got them a match with the second-seeded pairing of Bettendorf’s Dana Watermann  and Ali Grampp, who took the first set, 6-3.

The Warriors rallied to win the second, 7-5, and then closed out with a convincing 6-3 finish.

“We knew it would be a hard match,” said Moore, who played doubles with another partner in the state tourney last year. “But we just refused to lose today.”

Weather permitting, Friday’s semifinal matches will start at 10 a.m. at the outdoor tennis center. In the case of rain, the tournament will be moved to the indoor courts at Coe College.

CLASS 2A STATE SINGLES & DOUBLES
At Veterans Memorial Tennis Center

Thursday

Singles

First Round
Jaci Cochrane (Fort Dodge) def. Megan Jans (Iowa City West), 6-0, 6-0
Payton Kintz (Johnston) def. Katie Meyer (Hempstead), 7-5, 6-2
Kayla Kuethe (Waukee) def. Rubina Vidal (Clinton), 6-2, 6-0
Katie Melbourne (Pleasant Valley) def. Meera Prasad (DM Roosevelt), 6-1, 6-0
Liera Bender (Johnston) def. Kristin King (CR Washington), 6-3, 6-1
Abby Bergsten (Lewis Central) def. Judith Fan (Ames), 6-1, 6-4
Griffin Rasche (Clinton) def. Ellena Wolff (Dubuque Senior), 6-1, 6-4
Eve Small (Iowa City High) def. Delaney Parman (WDM Valley), 6-0, 6-0

Quarterfinals
Jaci Cochrane (Fort Dodge) def. Payton Kintz (Johnston), 6-0, 6-0
Kayla Kuethe (Waukee) def. Katie Melbourne (Pleasant Valley), 6-0, 4-6, 6-3
Liera Bender (Johnston) def. Abby Bergsten (Lewis Central), 6-1, 6-4
Eve Small (Iowa City High) def. Griffin Rasche (Clinton), 6-2, 6-3

Consolation First Round
Megan Jans (Iowa City West) def. Rubina Vidal (Clinton), 6-2, 6-0
Katie Meyer (Hempstead) def. Meera Prasad (DM Roosevelt), 6-1, 4-6, 1(9)
Kristin King (CR Washington) def. Ellena Wolff (Dubuque Senior), 7-6(5), 6-4
Judith Fan (Ames) def. Delaney Parman (WDM Valley), 6-0, 6-1

Consolation Quarterfinals
Griffin Rasche (Clinton) def. Megan Jans (Iowa City West), 6-3, 6-1
Abby Bergsten (Lewis Central) def.  Katie Meyer (Hempstead), 6-1, 4-6, 1(9)
Katie Melbourne (Pleasant Valley) def. Kristin King (CR Washington), 6-1, 6-2
Judith Fan (Ames) def. Payton Kintz (Johnston), 6-0, 6-1

Doubles

First Round
Michelle Van Roekel/Madeline Heer (Urbandale) def. Ashton Stoppelmoor/Virginia Meurer (Dubuque Senior), 6-1, 6-2
Olivia Coe/Emily Coe (Ankeny) def. Jordan Nelson/Gabby Haan (Clinton), 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
Elena Wilson/Addy Riley (Iowa City West) def. Lisa Pusin/Chloe Stewart (WDM Valley), 6-1, 6-3
Ann Ku/Taylor Thoen (Ames) def. Mackenzie Luehring/Anna Schlueter (Linn-Mar), 6-2, 6-1
Jenni Aldrich/Lucy Korsakov (WDM Valley) def. Elma Beganovic/Dina Kajtazovic (Waterloo West), 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-0
Sarah Lasecki/Jessica Pedersen (CR Kennedy) def. Kari Grindberg/Emily Knight (Fort Dodge), 6-3, 7-5
Lilly Hartman/Rina Moore (CR Washington) def. Kayla Dinshaw/Brynn Reichardt (Urbandale), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
Dana Watermann/Ali Grampp (Bettendorf) def. Jennifer Ventling/Holly Vander Pol (Newton), 6-2, 6-0

Quarterfinals
Van Roekel/Heer (Urbandale) def. Coe/Coe (Ankeny), 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
Ku/Thoen (Ames) def. Wilson/Riley (Iowa City West), 2-6, 7-5, 6-2
Lasecki/Pedersen (CR Kennedy) def. Aldrich/Korsalov (WDM Valley), 6-1, 6-3
Hartman/Moore (CR Washington) def. Watermann/Grampp (Bettendorf), 6-2, 6-0

Consolation First Round
Stopplemoor/Meurer (Dubuque Senior) def, Pusin/Stewart (WDM Valley), 6-4, 5-7, 1(8)
Nelson/Haan (Clinton) def. Luehring/Schlueter (Linn-Mar), 6-1, 6-2
Dinshaw/Reichardt (Urbandale) def. Beganovic/Kajtazovic (Waterloo West), 7-6(6), 7-5
Grindberg/Knight (Fort Dodge) def. Ventling/Vander Pol (Newton), 1-6, 6-2, 1(10)

Consolation Quarterfinals
Watermann/Grampp (Bettendorf) def. Stopplemoor/Meurer (Dubuque Senior), 6-1, 6-1
Aldrich/Korsalov (WDM Valley) def. Nelson/Haan (Clinton), 6-2, 6-4
Wilson/Riley (Iowa City West) def. Dinshaw/Reichardt (Urbandale), 6-3, 6-0
Grindberg/Knight (Fort Dodge) def., Coe/Coe (Ankeny), 6-4, 6-4