Friday’s Dennis Hoefle Invitational at the Prairie Ridge courts in Ankeny featured four of the top 10 boys’ tennis teams in Class 2A.
Tenth-ranked Dowling Catholic won the tournament with 76 points, edging No. 7 Mason City by four points. Ankeny Centennial placed third in the eight-team field with 62 points.
The Jaguars finished four points ahead of No. 3 Valley and six points ahead of No. 9 Des Moines Roosevelt. Host Ankeny took seventh place with 48 points.
Centennial’s Caleb Peterson and Brayden Wellendorf cruised to the No. 1 doubles title. They won all three of their matches in straight sets.
The Jaguars got a second-place finish at No. 2 singles from Jack Halverson, who advanced to the finals before falling to Campbell Love of Johnston.
“I was super proud of all three of those guys,” said Centennial coach Tami Lewton. “Caleb and Brayden lost to Mason City last year and got some retribution in the finals. Jack played against guys much higher in the lineup than him and lost in the finals to Johnston’s No. 2 player. I was very impressed with his performance.”
Ankeny got a runner-up finish from Mason Lyons at No. 1 singles. He defeated Nick Hiney of Centennial in the semifinals, 6-4, 6-0, before losing in the championship match to Caden Launderville of Johnston.
Hiney went on to earn a fourth-place finish. The Jaguars also got a fourth-place finish from the No. 3 doubles team of Ty Walker and Luke Valerie-Garsow.
Ankeny’s Ethan Bovee placed fourth at No. 2 singles. He lost to Halverson, 6-3, 6-1, in the semifinals.
The Hawks placed sixth in all four of the doubles divisions.
Centennial’s Holden Smith and Andrew Law took fifth at No. 2 doubles. They defeated Ankeny’s Aiden Walker and Cale Josten in the fifth-place match.
“I thought we competed well in all divisions,” Lewton said. “We went home for one hour, packed and left for Bettendorf and a three-hour drive for Saturday’s invite.
The Jaguars then placed third in the Pleasant Valley Invitational the following day. The host Spartans won the tournament with 21 points, finishing one point ahead of Dunlap (Ill.).
“Overall, I was super proud of all of the guys, and I thought we played very well,” Lewton said. “Each guy played 8-10 matches in two days. It was an overwhelming schedule in terrible conditions yet every one of the guys played until the last ball dropped. Our fortitude and mental toughness was in top form, and I really think we are turning a corner. We are competing and in a lot of cases winning against guys with much higher (Universal Tennis Rankings) and experience.”
Peterson easily won the No. 1 singles division. He also teamed up with Hiney for a runner-up finish at No. 1 doubles.
“Caleb won in the finals, 8-0, against a kid from Sterling (Ill.) that Pleasant Valley’s No. 1 player lost to,” Lewton said. “And in the doubles, Caleb and Nick were down in the semifinals, 5-0, and came back to win, 8-6. With tired and cold kids, that is super impressive!”
Hiney at No. 2, Wellendorf at No. 3 and Smith at No. 4 each lost in the semifinals of singles play. Wellendorf and Smith also lost in the semifinals at No. 2 doubles.
The Jaguars will host a CIML Conference meet against Johnston on Tuesday. Ankeny will travel to Waukee Northwest for a conference meet against the top-ranked Wolves.