The Ankeny Centennial boys’ tennis team dropped a 5-3 decision to Johnston in a Class 2A substate final on Wednesday at Valley.
The Jaguars finished the season with a 5-8 record.
“It was a five-hour match!” said Centennial coach Tami Lewton. “We had our opportunities for sure. We just couldn’t quite close out a couple of matches.”
The two teams split the six singles matches. Centennial got wins from Caleb Peterson at the No. 1 spot, Kellen Jones at No. 2 and Brayden Wellendorf at No. 4.
“I’m super proud of Kellen and Brayden. They had great singles matches,” Lewton said. “And Caleb continued to dominate at No. 1.”
The Dragons then sealed the win with victories at No. 1 and 2 doubles. They were on the verge of another triumph at No. 3 doubles when the meet was halted.
“Doubles was a struggle again,” Lewton said. “I think that some of the guys were exhausted mentally from the close singles match. I do think that we showed some real improvement from the beginning of the season to now. It will be great next year to have some guys with singles experience.”
Johnston then lost to Valley, 5-0, in the opening round of the Class 2A state tournament.
Here are the match-by-match results from the substate final:
Johnston 5, Centennial 3
Singles–Peterson (AC) beat Gogineni, 6-0, 6-3; Jones (AC) beat Barp, 6-4, 6-1; Love (J) beat H. Smith, 6-0, 6-2; Wellendorf (AC) beat Launderville, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Schuessler (J) beat N. Smith, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; Driscoll (J) beat Nelson, 6-4, 7-5.
Doubles–Gogineni-Barp (J) beat Peterson-Nelson, 6-4, 6-2; Love-Launderville (J) beat Jones-Wellendorf, 6-3, 6-2; Schuessler-Driscoll (J) led H. Smith-N. Smith, 7-5, 5-3.