The Dowling Catholic girls’ tennis team might be the state’s best squad–even without Allison Szalay.
The top-ranked Maroons posted an 11-0 victory in a non-conference meet at No. 9 Ankeny on Tuesday. They played without Szalay, the defending Class 2A champion in singles.
Szalay also plays goalkeeper for the Dowling girls’ soccer squad and dislocated her shoulder in the Maroons’ loss at Ankeny on Monday.
“That caused us to change everyone’s game plan literally minutes before we played,” said Ankeny coach Steve Smith. “I know all the DCHS girls very well as I coach all of them at the Thrive Tennis Academy.”
The Maroons relied on their depth to overcome the absence of Szalay. They won 10 of the 11 matches in straight sets.
“They have two of the top three singles players in the state, the top returning doubles team, another state-placing doubles team and two of the top six freshmen in the state,” Smith said.
Dowling improved its record to 3-0 on the season. The Hawkettes dropped to 2-1.
Still, Smith was proud of his team’s effort.
“We had our chances in almost every match, including four tiebreakers,” he said. “I’m hoping we take some confidence from how we competed into our next few matches as they are big ones for us.”
Ankeny will play crosstown rival Ankeny Centennial on Thursday.
“It’ll be fun coaching against coach (Alli) Gustafson as I used to coach her at Thrive back when she was in high school,” Smith said.
Here are the match-by-match results from Tuesday:
Dowling Catholic 11, Ankeny 0
Singles–Petersen beat Smith, 6-1, 6-3; Klein beat A. Schmitz, 6-2, 6-3; Valverde beat Johnson, 6-0, 6-0; Spranovic beat Otto, 7-6 (3), 6-1; Frye beat Blume, 6-1, 6-0; Sackett beat S. Schmitz, 6-0, 7-6 (4).
Doubles–Petersen-Klein beat Smith-S. Schmitz, 6-0, 6-0; Valverde-Spranovic beat A. Schmitz-Otto, 6-0, 6-2; Frye-Mauro beat Johnson-Osburn, 6-0, 7-6 (13); Sackett-Edward beat Blume-Francel, 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (6); Branstad-Johnson beat Byrnes-Laib, 6-4, 6-2.