(Photo by Michael Fischer) Spencer's Sascha Schulz smashes a shot past Spirit Lake/Okoboji's Mitch O'Neill and Brady Harmelink as doubles partner Chris Jones looks on Thursday, May 8, 2008. Schulz and Jones beat O'Neill and Harmelink 6-0, 6-0, garnering three team points and helping Spencer win its second straight district title.

The dynasty continues.

The two-time defending Lakes Conference champion Tigers won their second consecutive Class 1A boys district tennis title Thursday at River View Tennis Courts in Spencer, making it five titles in the past six years for the purple and gold.

Spencer's Chris Lensing drives a backhand across the net against Spirit Lake/Okoboji's Scott Maudlin and Mason Bergquist Thursday, May 8, 2008 during Class 1A District competition at River View Tennis Courts. The doubles team of Lensing and Joey Toale beat the Spirit Lake/Okoboji duo 6-2, 6-3 and went on to win the district title to advance to the state tournament.

"I'm really happy for the guys just because we had changed lineups on them late in the season," said Spencer head coach Joe Steele. "I'm pleased they didn't let the lineup change affect their play. Now they get a trip on to substate."

Unlike last season's 13-point runaway victory, this district championship came down to Spencer's final match of the day. Doubles tandem Chris Lensing and Joey Toale punched their tickets to the state tournament and sealed Spencer's district title with a 6-0, 7-6 finals win over the top-seeded Cherokee duo of Cole Egger and Kyle Ruehle.

"Our lineup changes did affect the seeding. Chris and Joey were undefeated together, but they had played only four matches," Steele commented. "The fact that Egger and Ruehle had played together was the deciding factor.

"Chris and Joey played through it. They played well," Steele added. "They learned a lot about each other today I think. They doubled the number of matches they had played together."

Lensing and Toale, seeded second, racked up 12 of the Tigers' 17 team points, earning three points for each doubles win. With the district title, Spencer earns a bye through preliminary substate and advances to substate on Saturday, May 17 in Fort Dodge.

Cherokee earned a district runner-up finish with 14 points, Storm Lake was third with 12 points. The Braves will host the Tornadoes Saturday in a preliminary substate pairing.

Cherokee added a doubles win from Mark Wilson and David Feser, and a singles win from sophomore Cole Renken. Storm Lake rode to its third-place finish on Jesse Munger's runner-up effort in singles play. Each singles win is worth two team points. The Tornadoes also had one win apiece from both of their doubles teams.

Along with Lensing's and Toale's district doubles title, Spencer produced two more wins. Jon Gabhart beat Sioux City's Heelan's Carter Buckmeier 6-4, 6-0 in the opening round of the singles tournament before losing 6-0, 6-2 to Johnathon Mengwasser of Denison-Schleswig. Sascha Schulz and Chris Jones blanked Spirit Lake/Okoboji's Mitch O'Neill and Brady Harmelink 6-0, 6-0 in the opening round of doubles play, but fell to Egger and Ruehle 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Taylor Harman dropped his opening round singles match to second-seeded James Aurand of Denison-Schleswig.

Lensing and Toale had little trouble in their title run. The Tiger duo opened the tournament with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Denison-Schleswig's Conrad Heiden and Nick Ingram. Lensing and Toale beat Will Hansen and Cory Nelsen of Storm Lake 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals, and advanced to the title match with a 6-2, 6-3 semifinals win over Scott Maudlin and Mason Bergquist of Spirit Lake/Okoboji.

The district title marks the third straight for Lensing, who had been a two-time state doubles qualifier with Spencer graduate and current Tigers assistant coach Zach Plagman. Toale is a first-time state qualifier.

"I haven't seen the rest of the state qualifiers, but I really think they fit the mold of a traditional Spencer doubles team. We have kind of a history of playing doubles well," Steele said. "Like other Spencer teams, if we go down and play well, I think we can make some noise."

Kyle Koth of Le Mars earned Thursday's district singles championship, beating Munger 7-5, 6-1. The district champions and district runners-up from each of Iowa's eight districts advance to the Class 1A State Tennis Tournament held Friday, May 23 and Saturday, May 24 at Byrne's Tennis Complex in Waterloo.

Spencer will take on either Aplington-Parkersburg or South Hardin in the first round of team substate. Fort Dodge St. Edmond will play either Cherokee or Storm Lake in the other substate semifinal pairing Saturday, May 17 in Fort Dodge. The winners of each semifinal match will advance to the finals to determine a state qualifier.

"We're familiar with Fort Dodge St. Edmond because we've played them this year and we know what they have, but I've found that it's very difficult to beat them a second time. We know we have our work cut out for us because they will be very good," Steele said.

"It helps to be familiar with them and to know that we are good enough to beat them," Steele added, "but we have to be careful not to underestimate them the second time around. I've told the guys right before rematches that our scores from the first time will mean absolutely nothing the second time around. That said, whoever comes out of our preliminary substate will be a great challenge for Fort Dodge, and whoever wins out of Aplington-Parkersburg and South Hardin will be a great challenge for us."

Spencer advanced to the substate final last season before losing 5-0 to Waterloo Columbus, who has ended the Tigers' season in substate for the past three years.

* To see complete results of Thursday's tennis tournament go to sports at www.spencerdailyreporter.com