Riders Bring Home a Pair of State Tennis Titles

Roosevelt tennis team members Mary Hill, Alex Kozlowski, Eren Sagun, Meera Prasad, Shivani Kumaresan, Jenna Pokorny, and Aida Alibasic with the State championship trophy.

The Roosevelt Roughriders brought not one but two State championship trophies home from the 2015 Girls’ State Tennis Championship, capping off a season that may be the best in school history.

On Friday, Mary Hill and Eren Sagun captured the State doubles title. The Roughriders duo defeated Urbandale 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. For Hill it was her second State doubles title in a row.

And the on Saturday, Roosevelt did something it had never done before, winning the State team title. The Riders defeated the defending champs Cedar Rapids Washington 5-1 in the semis and went on to beat Pleasant Valley 5-2 in the finals.

Another member of the team, Alex Kozlowski, also medaled in the singles competition, finishing 6th overall.

Mary Hill and Eren Sagun after winning the State doubles tennis title.

“We felt like we could do it the day after state last year,” Roosevelt coach Mike Shaw told the Iowa City Press-Citizen. “We knew we had it in place and we knew we just had to keep it together and do the work and play our tennis — and the girls did that. There were challenges along the way with so many talented players, and the level of competition they expect out of each other, but they met it.”

2015 proved to be a continuation of the efforts the team put forth in 2014. The players began this season back in November, doing workouts in the weight room to build core strength. An early team-bonding trip to Red Oak brought focus to the season ahead (along with a visit to Iowa landmarks such as the Villisca Axe Murder House and the World’s Largest “Coffeepot” in Stanton).

The returning strength of last year’s team and the early season efforts paid off. The Riders were undefeated during the regular season; in fact, the top eight players never lost a match. In qualifying for state, the team defeated all of their opponents by a 5-0 score.

For Roosevelt, this weekend’s two tennis titles were on top of two other State titles earned by Riders earlier in the year: Megan Schott won the cross country championship and Briyana Carter won the 100m at State track & field.

A big congratulations to team members Mary Hill, Alex Kozlowski, Eren Sagun, Meera Prasad, Shivani Kumaresan, Jenna Pokorny, and Aida Alibasic, and to coaches Mike Shaw, Emily Bollinger, Haylie Miller, Gina Nelms, and Bunny Bruning.