The Ankeny girls’ tennis team opened its season on Thursday with an 8-3 loss at Waukee in a CIML Conference meet.
Ankeny coach Steve Smith said he felt better about this loss than last year’s 6-5 defeat to the Warriors in the season opener.
“A year ago, we lost to Waukee despite being the better team because they outcompeted us,” said Smith. “I challenged the girls to outcompete them this year and while I don’t think we outcompeted them, I do think we competed well. We had a lot of positives that we can build on, and we had a lot of things that we can learn from.”
Lilith Francel provided Ankeny’s lone victory in singles. She posted a 6-3, 6-3 win over Laksha Suresh at the No. 2 spot.
Francel then teamed up with Olivia North for a 6-4, 6-4 triumph at No. 2 doubles.
“Lilith was dominant all night,” Smith said. “She’s starting to realize just how good she is.”
The Hawkettes’ other victory came at No. 5 doubles, where the duo of Paige Ford and Miranda Geest also won in straight sets.
“They played awesome in their first varsity match,” Smith said.
Smith also praised the play of Sophie Schmitz, who lost a three-set battle in her first match at No. 1 singles.
“Sophie won the first set in a tiebreaker after being down before losing in the third-set super tiebreaker,” Smith said. “She has been playing lights out in practice and continued that great play against a great player in Ash Medina.”
Ankeny will host conference rival Johnston in its home opener on Tuesday.
“We will keep working hard in practice every day to get better,” Smith said.
Here are the match-by-match results from Thursday’s meet:
Waukee 8, Ankeny 3
Singles–Medina beat Schmitz, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 1-0 (7); Francel (A) beat Suresh, 6-3, 6-3; Anbukumar beat DeHaan, 6-2, 7-5; Nurre beat Feldhacker, 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (9); Stewart beat Gorrela, 6-1, 6-1; Mullick beat Skinner, 6-2, 6-2.
Doubles–Medina-Suresh beat Schmitz-DeHaan, 7-5, 6-3; Francel-North (A) beat Anbukumar-Nurre, 6-4, 6-4; Stewart-Mullick beat Feldhacker-Gorrela, 6-3, 6-3; Mineck-Mizushima beat Dietrich-H. Quirk, 6-2, 6-2; Geest-Ford (A) beat McCrary-Meredith, 6-3, 6-4.