Thursday’s Jag-Hawk doubleheader at the Prairie Ridge courts featured a lot of great tennis and four teams battling a common opponent.
“It was a fantastic night for our fifth annual ‘Pink Out’ event,” said Ankeny Centennial boys’ coach Tami Lewton. “It was so awesome to see four teams about to compete come together to fight one enemy–cancer.”
All four teams wore pink and black t-shirts for the event. Proceeds from sales of the t-shirts were donated to the American Cancer Society.
On the court, Centennial swept its crosstown rival. The Jaguars posted an 8-3 victory in the boys’ meet and an 11-0 triumph in the girls’ meet.
Centennial won four of the six singles matches against the Hawks, who got victories from Sam Parkinson at the No. 4 spot and Colin Riggs at the No. 5 position.
The Jaguars sealed the win by taking four of the five doubles matches.
“We got great wins from our No. 4 and 5 doubles teams,” Lewton said. “We are starting to improve a lot there.”
The Jaguars improved to 2-1 in the CIML Iowa Conference and 5-3 overall. Ankeny’s records dropped to 1-1 and 3-3.
In the girls’ meet, Centennial won 10 of the 11 matches in straight sets. The Jaguars lost only nine games altogether in singles play.
Ankeny’s No. 5 doubles team of Tori Johnson and Lauren Osburn won the first set before the Centennial duo of Ellie Froehlich and Jenna Benkufsky rallied to win the match.
“It was a very good win for us,” said Centennial girls’ coach Armando Espinosa. “I thought everyone performed well, and we were able to find ways to win.”
Centennial raised its records to 2-0 in the conference and 3-1 overall. The Hawkettes fell to 1-1 and 2-3.
Both the Ankeny and Centennial boys’ teams will compete in the Dennis Hoefle Invitational on Friday at Ankeny.
Here are the match-by-match results:
Centennial 8, Ankeny 3 (boys)
Singles–Blevins beat O. Somers, 6-0, 6-0; Peterson beat Ferree, 6-0, 6-0; Mackaman beat Lyons, 6-2, 6-4; Parkinson (A) beat Keenan, 6-1, 6-3; Riggs (A) beat Ceplecha, 6-4, 6-4; Clark beat K. Somers, 6-2, 6-4.
Doubles–Peterson-Mackaman beat O. Somers-Parkinson, 6-1, 6-0; Blevins-Clark beat Ferree-Bush, 6-0, 6-3; Riggs-K. Somers (A) beat Ceplecha-Bhat; Keenan-Nelson beat Lyons-Bovee, 4-6, 6-2, 10-5; Jones-Halverson beat Brown-Hensen, 7-5, 6-4.
Centennial 11, Ankeny 0 (girls)
Singles–Peterson beat Sommerfeld, 6-0, 6-1; C. Guan beat A. Johnson, 6-1, 6-0; Gustafson beat Schmitz, 6-0, 6-1; E. Guan beat Rolow, 6-0, 6-0; Kruse beat Otto, 6-3, 6-0; Truong beat Brumm, 6-1, 6-2.
Doubles–Peterson-Gustafson beat Sommerfeld-A. Johnson, 6-1, 6-1; C. Guan-E. Guan beat Schmitz-Rolow, 6-0, 6-1; Kruse-Den Adel beat Byrnes-O. Johnson, 6-0, 6-0; Truong-Carr beat Otto-Laib, 6-2, 6-0; Froehlich-Benkufsky beat T. Johnson-Osburn, 2-6, 6-2, 10-1.