The Ankeny Centennial boys’ tennis team opened its season on Tuesday with a 7-4 victory over visiting Norwalk in a non-conference meet at the Prairie Ridge courts.
The Jaguars won four of the six singles matches to build a 4-2 lead. They sealed the triumph by winning three of the five doubles matches.
“There were some great matches,” said Centennial coach Tami Lewton. “It was a good start to the season.”
Centennial’s Caleb Peterson won at No. 1 singles without dropping a game.
“I felt pretty good,” said Peterson. “It was exciting to play my first match of the season. The weather has been pretty nice compared to last season so it was a really good match.”
Teammates Brayden Wellendorf, Nick Hiney and Andrew Law also won in straight sets.
“Caleb dominated winning both in singles and doubles with Holden (Smith),” Lewton said. “Brayden, Nick and Andrew all played really well with wins in singles. I thought we looked pretty good in singles.”
Two of the Jaguars’ victories in doubles came in three sets. At No. 2 doubles, Wellendorf and Hiney overcame a 9-3 deficit in the third-set super-tiebreaker by winning nine of the last 10 points.
“That was a crazy match,” Lewton said. “Our guys were down several match points, but they never gave up!”
The Jaguars will play another non-conference meet at Des Moines Roosevelt on Thursday.
“We need to work on doubles, but it is so early in the season we just aren’t there yet,” Lewton said.
Here are the match-by-match results from Tuesday’s meet:
Centennial 7, Norwalk 4
Singles–Peterson beat Steele, 6-0, 6-0; Bush (N) beat Smith, 6-2, 7-5; Wellendorf beat Mills, 6-3, 6-2; Hiney beat Tomkens, 6-3, 6-4; Law beat Chambers, 6-3, 6-2; Stockwell (N) beat Halverson, 6-1, 6-1.
Doubles–Peterson-Smith beat Bush-Mills, 6-1, 6-1; Wellendorf-Hiney beat Steele-Tomkens, 3-6, 6-3, 12-10; Names unavailable (N) beat Law-Halverson, 6-2, 6-7, 10-6; Walker-Valerie-Garsow beat names unavailable, 6-3, 3-6, 10-2; Names unavailable (N) beat Sinclair-Grim, 6-7, 7-5, 10-8.