The sixth-ranked Ankeny Centennial girls’ tennis team hosted a quadrangular meet on Monday and came away with a split at the Prairie Ridge courts.
The Jaguars posted a 7-2 win over Cedar Falls before dropping a 6-3 decision to Cedar Rapids Washington, last year’s Class 2A state champion. No. 3 Valley also participated in the meet, recording victories over Washington (5-4) and Cedar Falls (8-1).
“Today was a great day of tennis,” said Centennial coach Alli Gustafson, whose team is now 4-2 on the season. “This morning, our team as a whole played very well against Cedar Falls. We started strong in singles, and we finished even stronger in doubles.”
Centennial won four of the six singles matches. The Jaguars then swept all three doubles matches.
In the loss to Washington, Ara Lofgren provided Centennial’s lone win in singles. She rolled to a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Piper Graff at the No. 5 spot.
“Ara has made major improvements this season and is developing into such a great singles and doubles player,” Gustafson said. “She is gaining confidence with each match, and it is showing on the court. She carries herself with ease and is able to control the points with both her groundstrokes and her volleys. She dominated in all of her matches today.”
After falling behind 5-1, the Jaguars won two of the three doubles matches against Washington. But the outcome had already been decided.
“This afternoon, we struggled a lot in our singles matches,” Gustafson said. “We did not adjust to the wind and get our feet set each ball in a rally, causing many unforced errors. Cedar Rapids Washington was able to do that and took over in singles. We did play stronger in doubles, but it wasn’t enough to overcome our deficit in singles. However, every setback is a chance to grow and come back stronger.”
The Warriors are now 5-5 on the season. Cedar Falls is also 5-5 after losing to Valley.
Centennial again played without No. 1 player Abbie Peterson, who has not competed since the season opener on April 4 due to an injury.
“We are taking it day-by-day for Abbie,” Gustafson said. “Of course, we are hopeful that she is back on the court as soon as possible, but her health is our top priority.”
The Jaguars will host a CIML Conference meet against No. 5 Johnston on Tuesday. The Dragons are 2-2 in the league.
Here are the match-by-match results from Monday’s meets:
Centennial 7, Cedar Falls 2
Singles–Sagers (CF) beat S. Peterson, 6-3, 6-0; Kalala (CF) beat Yuan, 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (7); Baca beat Jankunas, 6-4, 6-2; Benkufsky beat Jeanes, 7-5, 6-3; Lofgren beat Patel, 6-2, 6-1; Mixdorf beat King, 7-5, 7-6 (0).
Doubles–S. Peterson-Yuan beat Sagers-Kalala, 8-4; Benkufsky-Lofgren beat Jankunas-Jeanes, 8-4; Baca-Mixdorf beat Patel-King, 8-6.
Cedar Rapids Washington 6, Centennial 3
Singles–Kock beat S. Peterson, 6-0, 6-1; Messenger beat Yuan, 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (7); Barker beat Baca, 6-2, 6-2; Becker beat Benkufsky, 6-2, 6-3; Lofgren (AC) beat Graff, 6-2, 6-0; Piersall beat Mixdorf, 6-1, 6-4.
Doubles–S. Peterson-Yuan (AC) beat Barker-Becker, 8-5; Kock-Graff beat Benkufsky-Lofgren, 8-2; Baca-Mixdorf (AC) beat Piersall-Cole, 8-4.