T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s Tanner Laube pumps his fist in celebration during Wednesday’s first day of the Class 1A boys state tennis singles and doubles tournament at the Byrnes Park Tennis Center in Waterloo.

WATERLOO — Tanner Laube is reaching heights on the tennis court not seen in Grundy Center for more than 50 years.

Laube advanced to the semifinals of the Class 1A singles tennis tournament with two straight-set victories at Byrnes Park Tennis Center in Waterloo on Wednesday.

He’s the first Spartan to reach the semifinal round in singles play since Norm Riek won it all in 1972. Nate Greer and Doug Shuey placed third in doubles in 2003.

“This is an amazing experience,” Laube said. “To get to do it with my family, my coaches, is just unbelievable.”

Laube, entering the tournament with the third seed, defeated Pella’s Ben Van Gorp, 6-2, 6-4, in the first round and took out Bennett Link of Cedar Rapids Xavier, 6-4, 6-3, in the quarterfinals.

Grundy Center head coach Sage Klar emphasized to Laube not to burn himself out battling Van Gorp at the start of the day.

“He told me to just be a brick wall, keep hitting the ball back and putting it in play, don’t take your legs out in the process,” Laube said. “[Van Gorp] got me in the second set a little bit, but I was able to battle back and win that one.”

What followed was a long, 2.5-hour wait for his quarterfinal match as Link and Andrew Lawrence of Shenandoah went to three sets and a tiebreaker in their first-round match.

“I would’ve liked to get out there a little quicker instead of thinking about it for almost three hours, sitting and waiting,” Laube said. “I couldn’t find my rhythm at the beginning [of the quarterfinal], but when I won that first set, it gave me a lot of hope and courage. … I just tried to stay composed the whole time and not get caught up in the moment.”

At a school where tennis was perhaps one of the final frontiers not yet explored by Grundy Center’s athletic talent, Klar felt it was just a matter of time before Laube could have a breakthrough season like this one, following up on his state doubles appearance with Jaren Lauver last year.

“This was always the expectation, but to see it becoming reality is really cool,” Klar said. “The fact that he’s going to be top four in the state is great for Grundy Center.”

Next up is a semifinal matchup with Caden Branum of Decorah, last year’s defending state champion seeded second behind Pella’s Jack Briggs.

Branum has also been on a tear, with straight-set victories over Kuemper’s Mason Reicks and Tyler Grote of Sergeant Bluff-Luton to reach the semifinals once again. Branum was also the state runner-up in 2022.

“It’s gonna be a really tough match, but if he can hang in there, he’ll be just fine,” Klar said. “It’ll come down to mental points, breathing, changing up patterns and strokes, trying to be unpredictable.”

Laube added: “I’m going to have some fun, hit through the ball and see what I can do, try to win every point.”