The Ankeny girls’ tennis players had more problems with the conditions on Monday than they did with their opponent.
Overcoming cold temperatures and winds of 30-40 mph, the ninth-ranked Hawkettes rolled to an 11-0 victory at Mason City in a CIML Iowa Conference matchup.
“I was proud we were able to endure some of the worst conditions I’ve experienced in both my playing and coaching career. The wind chill was in the low 20s,” said Ankeny coach Steve Smith. “We had a few close matches that forced our players to adapt their games to the conditions. It was great for them to persevere through adversity.”
Only two of the 11 matches were decided by a third-set super-tiebreaker. Ankeny won five matches by a score of 6-0, 6-0.
“This was another match that highlighted our depth with the 3 through 6 singles players and the 4 and 5 doubles teams losing a combined one game,” Smith said.
The Hawkettes improved to 2-0 in the conference. It was the league opener for Mason City, which dropped to 2-1 overall.
“This match was a good step forward to prepare for our match Tuesday at home against the best team in the state in No. 1 Dowling,” Smith said.
Here are the match-by-match results:
Ankeny 11, Mason City 0
Singles–Smith beat Matthews, 6-0, 6-2; A. Schmitz beat Callanan, 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (5); Johnson beat Wickman, 6-0, 6-1; Otto beat Turk, 6-0, 6-0; Blume beat Knipper, 6-0, 6-0; S. Schmitz beat Pope, 6-0, 6-0.
Doubles–Smith-S. Schmitz beat Matthews-Callanan, 6-0, 5-7, 1-0 (7); A. Schmitz-Otto beat Wickman-Turk, 6-4, 6-3; Johnson-Osburn beat Knipper-Hemann, 6-2, 6-1; Blume-Francel beat Pope-Mulert, 6-0, 6-0; Byrnes-Laib beat Arndt-Gabriel, 6-0, 6-0.