The Ankeny girls’ tennis team ran into another tough opponent on Tuesday.
The Hawkettes traveled to Waukee Northwest for a CIML Conference meet and dropped a 10-1 decision to the No. 7 Wolves, who won nine of the 11 matches in straight sets.
“Consistent with the theme of this season, we played another great team in extremely windy conditions,” said Ankeny coach Steve Smith. “I thought we actually hit pretty well tonight, but we just couldn’t win the big points.”
Ankeny’s Olivia North won the opening set at No. 4 singles before Northwest’s Greta Paulsen rallied to win in three sets.
“Liv played awesome in the first set,” Smith said.
The Hawkettes’ lone victory came at No. 5 doubles, where Samara Feldhacker and Paige Ford teamed up for a three-set win.
“It was great to watch Samara and Paige step up in front of all the players on both teams in the tiebreaker,” Smith said.
It was the fifth straight win for the Wolves, who improved to 3-2 in the conference and 6-2 overall. Ankeny’s records dropped to 1-4 and 1-5.
The Hawkettes will face No. 6 Ankeny Centennial on Thursday at the Prairie Ridge courts. The Jaguars are 2-2 in the league and 4-3 overall.
Longtime Centennial boys’ coach Tami Lewton, who is battling cancer, will be honored before the meet.
“We are looking forward to being able to honor one of the greatest Ankeny tennis coaches of all time,” said Smith, who coached against Lewton when he previously guided the Ankeny boys’ squad. “All of our thoughts and prayers are with Tammy and her family in these tough times.”
Here are the match-by-match results from Tuesday’s meet:
Waukee Northwest 10, Ankeny 1
Singles–Hilton beat Schmitz, 6-2, 6-0; Taylor beat Francel, 6-0, 6-1; Deines beat De Haan, 6-2, 6-0; Paulsen beat North, 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (3); Gibbs beat Dietrich, 6-1, 6-0; Schindera beat Gorrela, 6-3, 6-2.
Doubles–Hilton-Taylor beat Schmitz-Francel, 6-1, 6-0; Deines-Paulsen beat De Haan-North, 6-1, 6-2; Gibbs-Everett beat Quirk-Geest, 6-1, 6-0; Schindera-Hammond beat Gorrela-Hanley, 6-1, 6-0; Feldhacker-Ford (A) beat Kinariwala-Stanger, 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (6).