Six days ago, the Ankeny Centennial girls’ tennis team qualified all six of its players for the Class 2A individual state tournament.
Now, the third-ranked Jaguars have qualified for the state team competition as well.
Centennial posted a 5-0 victory over No. 10 Ankeny in a Class 2A regional final on Tuesday at the Prairie Ridge courts. The Jaguars (11-1) defeated their crosstown rival for the second time this season to advance to state, where they will meet No. 6 Cedar Falls (14-6) in the first round on Saturday at Ankeny at 9 a.m.
“These girls just keep continuing to get better and better,” said Centennial coach Alli Gustafson. “They show up and give every match their all.”
Centennial sealed the victory by winning the first five singles matches to be completed. Ankeny finished the season with a 5-8 record.
“I thought we had our chances on almost every court, but at the end of the day, the Jags just made more shots than us,” said Ankeny coach Steve Smith. “It was tough to see our seniors compete so well in their last match but come up short.”
The Jaguars got wins from Abbie Peterson, Esther Guan, Jenna Benkufsky, Samara Peterson and Megan Yuan. At the No. 1 position, Abbie Peterson defeated Kira Smith for the second time in a matchup of state singles qualifiers.
“All of the girls had awesome wins and played their own games and dominated on the court,” Gustafson said. “Abbie had another strong win against Kira today. She was in control of the match the whole time and played to her own strengths.”
Ankeny’s Sophie Schmitz won the first set against Ara Lofgren at No. 5 singles, but the match was halted when the outcome was determined.
“It was great to see Sophie be able to play all three matches despite her back pain,” Smith said. “She played great in taking that first set against Ara.”
Both teams advanced to the final with wins earlier on Tuesday. The Jaguars rolled to a 5-0 triumph over Des Moines Roosevelt (9-5), while the Hawkettes posted a 5-2 victory over Indianola (6-6).
“This morning, all five of our wins came without dropping a single game,” Gustafson said. “Going into the afternoon, my players knew Ankeny would come in hungry to win, just as we were. It is exciting to make it to the team state tournament, but this is only the first step. We are looking forward to the next couple of weeks of tennis.”
Smith said the Hawkettes will have to replace “an amazing senior class.”
“We’ll miss them each individually and certainly collectively next year,” he said. “We’ll need some players to dedicate themselves to improving this offseason to make up for that loss.”
Here are the match-by-match results:
Centennial 5, D.M. Roosevelt 0
Singles–A. Peterson won, 6-0, 6-0; Guan won, 6-0, 6-0; Benkufsky (did not finish); S. Peterson won, 6-0, 6-0; Lofgren, 6-0, 6-0; Yuan won, 6-0, 6-0.
Ankeny 5, Indianola 2
Singles–Smith beat Bishop, 6-0, 6-1; Otto beat Dowler, 6-1, 6-4; Greubel (I) beat Kolb, 7-5, 5-7, 10-8; Osburn beat Belt, 6-2, 6-7, 10-7; Christensen (I) beat Schmitz, 1-6, 7-5, 10-7; Blume beat Allen, 6-2, 6-4.
Doubles–Smith-Otto beat Bishop-Greubel, 6-2, 6-1; Kolb-Schmitz vs. Dowler-Askelsen (did not finish); Osburn-Blume vs. Belt-Christensen (did not finish).
Centennial 5, Ankeny 0
Singles–A. Peterson beat Smith, 6-3, 6-0; Guan beat Otto, 6-3, 6-1; Benkufsky beat Kolb, 6-2, 6-2; S. Peterson beat Osburn, 6-0, 6-1; Lofgren vs. Schmitz (did not finish); Yuan beat Blume, 6-4, 6-0.
