Waukee Northwest, Cedar Rapids Xavier win Iowa high school girls tennis state titles

The Iowa high school girls tennis season, which moved from the spring to the fall for the 2025-26 academic year, is in the books.

It officially wrapped up on Oct. 7, with the team state championships taking place following individual and doubles titles being awarded last week. Similar names were on the top of the podium after last week’s championships, with Waukee Northwest sweeping the Class 2A titles and Cedar Rapids Xavier winning all three 1A crowns.

Here’s a look at how the IGHSAU team tennis tournament played out.

Waukee Northwest earns sweep of Class 2A

For the first time since Ames did it back in 2012, the Waukee Northwest girls tennis program has clinched the Class 2A singles, doubles and team state tennis titles all in one season.

The Wolves secured the triple crown on Oct. 7, winning the team title on their home courts with wins over Clinton, Iowa City West and West Des Moines Valley. It is the second team title in program history after winning the first in June, before girls tennis became a fall sport.

Waukee Northwest began the tournament on Oct. 6, with a persistent rain moving Class 2A competition indoors at Genesis Health Clubs. Even so, they won five singles matches against Clinton to advance to the semifinals. The Wolves returned to their home courts the following morning to down Iowa City West, 5-0, to advance to the title match against Valley. 

The Wolves claimed four of six singles matches against Valley and needed only one doubles point to claim the crown. The pair of Riley Hilton and Mia Deines were the first to win their doubles match against Valley’s Sophie Sing and Grace Wang to secure the team championship, 5-2. 

Deines and Hilton both pointed to the team’s chemistry as the reason they achieved as much as they have in the last 12 months.

“You have to be so happy for all of your team and spend so much time with them to create such a great bond,” Deines said.

Deines and Hilton were also the doubles state champions for the Wolves. Addison Latta, the state singles champion this year, was also a key contributor during the team state tournament. While this is the second team title for the Wolves, those singles and doubles titles were the first for the entire Waukee school district.

More: Waukee Northwest, Xavier sweep Iowa high school girls state tennis singles and doubles

Waukee Northwest finished the year 17-1 as a team, with all three of the sport’s Class 2A titles residing in the halls of Waukee Northwest High School.

“I think they were the best team coming into the year and they proved that,” Waukee Northwest coach Chad Jilek said.

Cedar Falls took third place in Class 2A, rounding out the top three by securing a 5-3 victory over Iowa City West.

Cedar Rapids Xavier clinches Class 1A team state title

Waukee Northwest wasn’t the only team to sweep this year, as Cedar Rapids Xavier secured the Class 1A state team title on Oct. 7 in Pella to sweep singles, doubles and team championships in 2025 as well. This is the second consecutive season the Saints have accomplished that feat.

Cedar Rapids Xavier was dominant across all three matchups at state, beginning with a 5-0 win on Oct. 6 vs. Shenandoah to advance to the semifinals. The Saints rolled Dike-New Hartford in the semifinal round, also by a 5-0 score, to open play on Oct. 7. They followed that with a 5-1 win over Decorah in the finals to secure the sweep of all three state events.

This is the program’s fourth team state title, which have all come since 2019. In total, the Saints have five doubles state titles and four singles state titles in tennis, in addition to their success as a team.

Host school Pella took third in Class 1A, securing a 5-1 win over Dike-New Hartford in the third-place match.

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Waukee Northwest, Xavier win Iowa girls tennis state titles