Mason City's Zach Mulholland follows through on a serve during Friday's Class 2A preliminary substate match against Cedar Rapids Kennedy at Mason City High School.
Behind two straight set victories in doubles, Class 2A No. 7 Mason City broke a 3-3 tie after singles to triumph over Cedar Rapids Kennedy 5-3 in a preliminary substate match at Mason City High School on Friday afternoon.
The River Hawks reward is a date with top-ranked Iowa City West on Wednesday in the substate final.
Justin Yarahmadi (No. 2 singles), Zach Mulholland (No. 3) and Lane Kruger (No. 4) all won in two sets to combat the loss of Sander Thompkins at No. 5 singles, who did not play due to sickness.
Odnel Daugherty filled in a spot at No. 2 doubles with Mulholland and Ben Lorence was paired with Kruger at No. 3 doubles. Those two tandems cruised to sweeps to give Mason City the team victory.
It marks the second straight year the River Hawks have won at least one postseason match as a team.
Clear Lake senior and No. 1 tennis player Jaxson Gerhardt prepares for a forehand shot in his match against Waverly-Shell Rock's Benny Ramker during a Class 1A preliminary substate match at Clear Lake High School.
Meanwhile in Class 1A, Waverly-Shell Rock was victorious over Clear Lake 5-1 in its prelim substate match. No doubles matches were played as the Go-Hawks won five of the six singles matches.
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Cabot Neuberger picked up a straight set win at No. 3 singles for the Lions. Nos. 5 and 6 singles went to three sets that were ultimately won by WSR. Clear Lake's Jack Crane (No. 5) and Carter Markwardt (No. 6) won the first set, but dropped the final two.
Clear Lake junior and No. 2 tennis player Ben Loge unleashes a forehand shot during his match against Waverly-Shell Rock's Isaac Becker during a Class 1A preliminary substate tennis match at Clear Lake High School.
Mason City senior Lane Kruger fires a backhand shot in his match at No. 4 singles during Friday's Class 2A preliminary substate match against Cedar Rapids Kennedy at Mason City High School.
Zach Martin is a sports reporter for the Globe Gazette. Reach him via email at zachary.martin@globegazette.com and follow him on Twitter @zach_martin95.
