The Ankeny Centennial girls’ tennis team made some history on Friday.
The third-ranked Jaguars captured the team title at the Valley Invitational, topping a field that included five of the top nine squads in Class 2A.
“This is the first time that it’s ever happened,” Centennial coach Alli Gustafson said of her team’s triumph. “It was a fun day!”
Samara Peterson and Megan Yuan went undefeated in the tournament, going 4-0 at No. 3 doubles.
“They showed great communication on the court and dominated their matches,” Gustafson said. “Megan had great serves, and Samara had awesome net play.”
The Jaguars also got strong performances from the No. 1 doubles team of Abbie Peterson and Esther Guan and the No. 2 tandem of Jenna Benkufsky and Ara Lofgren.
“Esther and Abbie had a great day as well playing together against some of the best doubles teams in the state!” Gustafson said. “I was proud of how they composed themselves today throughout their matches. They had strong net play that helped them work as a team to see success.
“Ara and Jenna continue to build experience. Today, they were able to use each other’s strong groundstrokes to take advantage at the net,” she added.
In singles play, Rozzie Sterling and Gabby Mixdorf competed for the Jaguars.
“I was very proud of how Rozzie and Gabby both played,” Gustafson said. “Neither of them had much singles action throughout the season, so it was awesome to see them step up today and give it everything they had. Overall, there was amazing tennis all throughout the team!”
Centennial will compete in a Class 2A regional tournament on Wednesday at Ames.