Without its No. 1 player, the Ankeny Centennial girls’ tennis team dropped a 10-1 decision at Dowling Catholic on Tuesday.
The Jaguars were unable to overcome the absence of Abbie Peterson, who was out with an injury.
“We had to shuffle everyone up a spot,” said Centennial coach Alli Gustafson. “Dowling is a very talented and deep team, and we fell short with lots of unforced errors and weren’t able to close in to end points when we needed to.”
Centennial’s lone victory came at the No. 6 singles position, where Gabby Mixdorf posted a 6-3, 7-5 win over former Ankeny player Payton Blume. Mixdorf stepped into the singles lineup for the Jaguars.
“Gabby played some great tennis as we knew she could!” Gustafson said. “She used her consistency and hustle on the court to run down each ball and keep the ball in play. She stepped up when we needed her and came away with our only win of the day! It is great to have players deeper in our lineup who are ready to come in and contribute to the team in singles and in doubles.”
Samara Peterson moved up to the No. 1 spot to replace her sister. She won four games against Ava Petersen, one of the state’s top players.
“Samara played some of her best tennis,” Gustafson said. “She hit with pace, confidence and depth to make her opponent work for each point. I am excited to see how she continues to play throughout the season.”
Dowling improved to 2-0 in the CIML Conference and 4-0 overall, while the Jaguars’ records fell to 1-1 and 1-1. The Maroons also handed Centennial two of its three losses a year ago, including one in the semifinals of the Class 2A state team tournament.
“We have the majority of the season still to come, so we are reflecting on this match and continuing to improve for each meet moving forward,” Gustafson said. “The meet served as a valuable learning experience, and I have no doubt that we will emerge stronger and more determined moving forward. We have lots of room for growth, and I can’t wait to get back at practice to work on our game.”
The Jaguars will host a conference meet against Valley (2-2) on Friday.
Here are the match-by-match results from Tuesday’s meet:
Dowling Catholic 10, Centennial 1
Singles–Petersen beat S. Peterson, 6-3, 6-1; Frye beat Yuan, 6-1, 6-1; Mauro beat Baca, 6-1, 6-1; Edward beat Benkufsky, 6-0, 6-1; Bakros beat Lofgren, 6-0, 6-0; Mixdorf (AC) beat Blume, 6-3, 7-5.
Doubles–Petersen-Mauro beat S. Peterson-Yuan, 6-1, 6-1; Frye-Bakros beat Baca-Benkufsky, 6-1, 6-0; Edward-Blume beat Lofgren-Mixdorf, 6-2, 6-1; Dowling beat Centennial (names unavailable), 6-4, 6-1; Claypool-Rice beat Bhat-Mortale, 6-1, 6-1.