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‘We hope to make her proud’: Jaguars drop opener without coach Lewton

March 29, 2024 by Dan Holm

Ankeny Centennial’s Brayden Wellendorf hits a forehand return during Thursday’s dual meet against visiting Des Moines Roosevelt. Wellendorf posted a victory at No. 1 singles, but the Roughriders swept the other five singles matches and went on to post an 8-3 triumph. (Photo by Dan Holm)

The Ankeny Centennial boys’ tennis team opened the season on Thursday with an 8-3 loss to visiting Des Moines Roosevelt in a non-conference meet at the Prairie Ridge courts.

The Jaguars were without head coach Tami Lewton, who has been hospitalized for the last several weeks as she battles a serious illness. Ankeny swimming coach Dustin Rhoads has joined the staff as an assistant to help fill in for Lewton.

“We are very proud of this group and their efforts so far,” Rhoads said. “We have been emphasizing working hard, but also having fun. We are led by a large group of seniors, but also have a lot of newer guys that are showing great promise while trying to learn and gain experience. It has not been easy for the guys without their head coach. We will continue to play hard for Tami and keep her in our thoughts and prayers. We hope to make her proud, and that she can get better soon to join us back out on the tennis courts at some point this season.”

The Roughriders won five of the six singles matches. Centennial’s lone victory came at the No. 1 spot, where Brayden Wellendorf posted a 7-5, 6-4 win over Will Bright.

Centennial’s Holden Smith and Luke Valerio-Garsow teamed up for a three-set triumph at No. 2 doubles. The No. 5 doubles team of Aaron Braun and Carson Wellendorf provided the Jaguars’ other win.

“We finally had some good weather for our first home match of the season!” Rhoads said. “The boys were excited to get out there and compete with Roosevelt, and I thought we battled hard on every court. Each score shows how close the matches were.

Ankeny Centennial’s Andrew Law reaches to make a backhand return during the No. 4 singles match in Thursday’s meet. (Photo by Dan Holm)

“Despite the loss, I think the guys had fun and learned a lot that will help them in our next upcoming matches. The spring weather in Iowa has been tough, and we haven’t been able to practice as much as we had hoped so far. Our doubles play was probably better than our singles play, which makes sense as we train on four courts. Our focus will shift a bit more to singles and being more confident, aggressive, and consistent with all shots. We had a lot of long matches so we need to work more on our footwork, movement and conditioning.

“There has been a lot of improvement so far, and I am confident we will keep getting better every day and be even sharper at our next match on Thursday,” he added.

Roosevelt is coached by former Ankeny standout Dan Pitz. He was the Hawks’ first state placewinner in 1979, when he took third in Class 2A singles.

“I knew this would be a close match and most of the matches were,” said Pitz. “We’ve been working on tiebreaks and it showed, winning three of four third-set supertiebreakers. Our goal is to make it to team state and I told my players if we can convincingly defeat (Centennial), we are on our way. So we are very excited about this season.”

Here are the match-by-match results:

D.M. Roosevelt 8, Centennial 3

Singles–B. Wellendorf (AC) beat Bright, 7-5, 6-4; VanNgov beat Hiney, 6-2, 6-1; Kehoe beat Smith, 7-5, 6-3; Cataldi beat Law, 7-5, 6-3; Arnold beat Valerio-Garsow, 6-1, 6-4; Levich beat Walker, 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (9).

Doubles–Bright-Kehoe beat B. Wellendorf-Hiney, 6-2, 7-5; Smith-Valerio-Garsow (AC) beat VanNgov-Cataldi, 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (6); Arnold-Lin beat Law-Halverson, 6-3, 7-6 (6); Levich-Walter beat Walker-Sanders, 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10); Braun-C. Wellendorf (AC) beat Wiederaenders-Draper, 7-6 (3), 6-3.

Filed Under: Boys' Tennis, Jaguars Tagged With: Dan PItz, Dustin Rhoads, Featured

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