It was a meet that could have gone either way.
In the end, the Ankeny girls’ tennis team dropped a 5-4 decision at North Polk in a non-conference battle on Thursday. The meet was played under cold and blustery conditions.
“It would be easy to try to blame the circumstances as it was one of the worst nights condition-wise I’ve ever seen,” said Ankeny coach Steve Smith. “It was constant straight-line winds of between 20-30 miles per hour and gusts much higher than that, it rained during match play, and we finished in the dark after the sun had gone down.”
North Polk (3-1) won four of the six singles matches to take a 4-2 lead. The Comets then captured the No. 3 doubles match to secure the victory.
Five of the nine matches were decided by a third-set supertiebreaker.
“It was one of those rare matches where every single court could have gone either way,” Smith said. “At the beginning of the singles matches, it looked like we’d be up 6-0 after singles. Near the end of singles, we could have been down 0-6.
“What I do appreciate is we talked as a team after singles, and I challenged them noting we had to win every doubles court to win the meet. We won two of the three, and I thought the third court battled despite KJ Quirk being the proverbial next player up for Ella (Dietrich) after she got injured in singles,” he added.
The loss dropped Ankeny’s record to 0-3.
“If we’re honest with ourselves, it’s not really that big of a surprise,” Smith said of the loss. “North Polk has four players taking lessons year-round. We have one player taking lessons year-round, and she won both her matches. We have another player who for several years used to take lessons year-round, and she won both her matches. It doesn’t matter the size of the school–it’s the size of the commitment to excellence that matters.”
The Hawkettes got wins from Sophie Schmitz at No. 1 singles and Lilith Francel at the No. 2 spot. Schmitz then teamed up with Mallory DeHaan for another victory at No. 1 doubles, while Francel and Olivia North prevailed at the No. 2 position.
“It was good to see Sophie win two matches on her birthday,” Smith said.
Here are the match-by-match results:
North Polk 5, Ankeny 4
Singles–Schmitz (A) beat Mangae, 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (7); Francel (A) beat Cakinberk, 7-6 (2), 4-6, 1-0 (9); Laib (NP) beat DeHaan, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 1-0 (6); Dillinger (NP) beat North, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3); Aagard (NP) beat Dietrich, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 1-0 (3); Estey (NP) beat Gorrela, 6-4, 6-3.
Doubles–Schmitz-DeHaan (A) beat Mangae-Cakinberk, 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (8); Francel-North (A) beat Laib-Dillinger, 7-5, 7-6 (2); Aagard-Estey (NP) beat Gorrela-Quirk, 6-2, 6-3.