On one of the first few points of a Class 2A semifinal match between Ankeny Centennial’s Abbie Peterson and Dowling Catholic’s Allison Szalay, the two players traded groundstrokes back and forth for more than a minute before Peterson finally won the point.
But the talented freshman decided that she didn’t want to play the entire girls’ tennis match in similar fashion.
“I just decided to go for more balls instead of just hitting slow and lobbing it so it was a little harder to make them all,” Peterson said. “I think it’s better in the long run that I go for shots instead of not hitting the way I know I can.”
Peterson’s aggressive approach proved to be costly as the steady Szalay went on to post a 6-3, 6-1 victory on Thursday at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex in Iowa City. Szalay had lost two of three previous meetings against Peterson this season.
“I know her forehand is generally her weaker shot so I was trying to go there more and just kind of outlast (her),” Szalay said. “I know I can get out there and hit 100 balls in a row, so if she’s going to hit 100 I’ll hit 101.”
Szalay went on to defeat Valley’s Claire Gu in straight sets to win the Class 2A crown. Peterson finished fourth after dropping a 6-3, 6-4 decision to Arunadee Fernando of Ames in the third-place match.
“Abbie didn’t have her best day,” said Centennial coach Armando Espinosa. “I was proud of her because she tried to play an aggressive baseline game that unfortunately didn’t work out.”
The third-seeded Peterson broke Szalay’s serve to open the semifinal match, but Szalay won the next four games. Peterson won the following two games to get back on serve, but the second-seeded Szalay then broke Peterson’s serve and fought off a break point to hold serve and won the first set when Peterson netted a backhand return.
Szalay broke serve at 15 to open the second set. Peterson then took a 40-0 lead in the next game and had three break points, but Szalay answered with five straight points to hold her serve and eventually won the last four games to close out the match.
“That (second) game I just hung in there. I just hung in there with her,” Szalay said. “I said, ‘I will put the ball back in the court every single time you hit it to me.’ I don’t know if you heard after the game but I said to myself, ‘All day. I can be out here all day.’ And that’s just kind of what I was trying to do there.”
Peterson then lost to Fernando, the state runner-up in 2019. Fernando, who has battled an injury this season, avenged two earlier losses.
Still, Peterson achieved the highest finish ever by a Centennial girls’ player.
“It was hard to bounce back from the loss (to Szalay),” Peterson said. “I was really hoping to be able to win that since I had in the past. I just wanted to go for shots more rather than just hitting slower which will help me grow my game for the future, because hitting slower and lobs isn’t the way I want to play in the future.”
Peterson’s teammates, Claudia and Esther Guan, closed out their season on Thursday with a sixth-place finish in the Class 2A doubles tournament. They matched the highest doubles finish in school history.
The Guan sisters posted a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Andrea Porubcin and Elizabeth Alves of Bettendorf in a consolation semifinal. They won the first five games of the opening set before holding off the Bulldogs’ rally.
“I thought the Guan sisters played very well against Bettendorf,” Espinosa said. “They were patient from the baseline and aggressive at the net.”
In the fifth-place match, the Guan sisters dropped a 6-4, 6-2 decision to Isa Valverde and Ella Spanovic of Dowling. They lost to the same Dowling duo in Wednesday’s opening round, 6-4, 7-6.
“I’m pretty happy with our result since we didn’t know what to expect and were already happy that we made state,” said Claudia Guan. “I think after the first round we were determined to get at least two wins to make it to the next day and it really fired us up, especially the match against Johnston on the first day.
“I think we played the best tennis we have during state, and I’m happy we did our best and I’m really proud of how we were playing together,” she added.
