A couple of close losses brought the Ankeny boys’ tennis team’s season to an end on Tuesday.
The Hawks competed in a Class 2A district tournament at Waukee Northwest and needed to finish among the top three teams to advance to substate play. They were unable to extend their season.
Waukee Northwest easily captured the district title and will move on to a substate team tournament. Ames and Urbandale placed second and third, respectively, and will advance to a preliminary substate match.
“We lost two three-set matches, and had we won both of those we probably finish third and go to Ames on Friday,” said Ankeny coach Ron Miller. “As it is, we’re done for the year.”
Ankeny’s Mason Lyons was seeded fourth in singles. After receiving a first-round bye, he dropped a 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-2 decision to Tim Hanulik of Ames in the quarterfinals.
Dylan Victor also played singles for the Hawks. He won a first-round match over Waukee Northwest’s Swaroop Panda by default before falling to third-seeded Tharun Raju of Ames, 6-2, 6-3, in the quarterfinals.
Ankeny’s fourth-seeded doubles team of Owen Somers and Sam Parkinson also lost in the quarterfinals. They dropped a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 decision to Hayden Sinclair and Akshay Sarda of Ames.
The Hawks’ other win came courtesy of the doubles team of Ethan Bovee and Avin Legg, who posted a 6-1, 6-3 triumph over Aaron Ho and Kyaw Tha of Des Moines Lincoln in the opening round. They then lost to third-seeded Jixiang Li and Derek Peng of Ames, 6-1, 6-3, in the quarterfinals.
Kaden Taylor of Waukee Northwest posted a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Max Rose of Urbandale in the singles final. The Wolves also advanced both of their doubles teams to the state tournament as Kellan Croatt and Jake Nelson defeated teammates Sean Sonoiki and Drew Fenton in the finals.