—Submitted Photo The St. Edmond tennis team stands with their qualifying banner at Dodger Courts. Pictured left to right are, Shawn Neverman, Chloe Palmer, Lauren Gibb, Cambree Lunn, Payton Bradley, Ava Underberg, Abby Huss and Ava Andrew.

For the first time in school history, the St. Edmond girls tennis team will play in the state tournament.

The Gaels (17-0 overall) won a Class 1A regional championship at Dodger Courts on Wednesday.

“The entire team has worked so hard the entire off-season to get better and (yesterday) showed off the work that they have been putting in,” said St. Edmond head coach Shawn Neverman. “Ballard gave us a run before we took care of business. Once we got by Ballard, the girls locked in and showed why we are one of the top teams in the state.”

St. Edmond beat Ballard 5-2 and advanced to knock off Spirit Lake, 5-0 in straight sets.

The eighth-seeded Gaels will now play top-ranked and unbeaten Cedar Rapids Xavier (24-0) in the state tournament on Saturday in Pella.

First serve is set for 10 a.m.

In the Ballard match up Lauren Gibb won 6-0, 6-2. Payton Bradley earned a 6-3, 6-0 victory. Ava Andrew (6-4, 6-4) and Ava Underberg (7-5, 6-1) closed out singles.

Andrew and Cambree Lunn closed out the match with 6-3 and 6-3 victories in doubles action.

“We knew going into the match against Ballard it was going to be a tough opponent,” Neverman said. “They proved that, but our girls just proved that they were up to the task and proved that they were the better team.”

Winning matches against Spirit Lake were Gibb, Lunn, Andrew, Underberg and Abby Huss. Bradley was one set away from closing out her match.

“The girls came out to play,” Neverman said. “After waiting for three hours for the courts to dry, the girls didn’t miss a beat.

“I want to give a huge shout out and thank you to Mitch Lunn, Gabe Underberg, Sue Huss and Kyle Johnson for running leaf blowers to try to get the courts dry enough for the girls to play.”