A depleted Ankeny girls’ tennis team dropped an 11-0 decision to visiting Johnston on Tuesday.
The Dragons won all 11 matches in straight sets. They improved to 2-0 in the CIML Conference and 2-0 overall.
The Hawkettes’ records fell to 0-2 and 0-2.
“We were down five of our top 15 players, including two of our normal singles players,” said Ankeny coach Steve Smith. “When you are shorthanded and play a really good team, it’s tough to overcome that. But I give Johnston a lot of credit. Their players consistently made shot after shot after shot. They don’t do a lot of things flashy, but they simply just don’t miss. We weren’t able to match their grit and focus, but we’re learning something every meet.”
According to Smith, the meet still benefitted his team.
“The one good thing about being shorthanded, it gave several players on our team opportunities they normally don’t have,” he said. “In addition to players having to move up the lineup, we had two players play their first varsity meet and two other players play their first varsity singles matches. I thought, for the most part, those players took advantage of those opportunities.”
Olivia North and Ella Dietrich moved into the singles lineup at the Nos. 4 and 5 positions, respectively.
“Normally, you want someone to play at the No. 6 spot in their first varsity singles match, but we didn’t have that luxury,” Smith said. “Despite that, both Olivia and Ella competed very well against two really good players from Johnston. They both certainly earned the right to stay in the singles lineup Thursday.
“I also give credit to Olivia and Lilith (Francel) for battling back from a 5-1 deficit in the second set before finally falling short at 6-4 (at No. 2 doubles),” he added.
The Hawkettes will play a non-conference meet at North Polk (2-1) on Thursday.
Here are the match-by-match results from Tuesday:
Johnston 11, Ankeny 0
Singles–Christensen beat Schmitz, 6-0, 6-1; Hendrickson beat Francel, 6-0, 6-2; Peterson beat DeHaan, 6-1, 6-1; Ross Cope beat North, 6-4, 6-0; Veeder beat Dietrich, 6-3, 6-1; Elsberry beat Skinner, 6-2, 6-1.
Doubles–Christensen-Hendrickson beat Schmitz-DeHaan, 6-0, 6-1; Peterson-Ross Cope beat Francel-North, 6-1, 6-4; Veeder-Elsberry beat Dietrich-Quirk, 6-0, 6-0; Holub-Lu beat Ford-Garcia, 6-1, 6-2; Kemmer-Studer beat Skinner-Rubin, 6-0, 6-0.