The Ankeny boys’ tennis squad advanced to the semifinals of a Class 2A substate team tournament on Saturday before dropping a 5-1 decision at seventh-ranked Cedar Rapids Washington, which lost a total of only 10 games in the five singles matches that it won.
The Warriors (11-4) advanced to play Johnston (6-4) in the substate final on Wednesday. The Hawks finished the season with a 4-8 record.
“Washington was as good as advertised,” said Ankeny coach Ron Miller.
Ankeny’s lone victory came at No. 2 singles, where Garrett Weichers rolled to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Logan Sherman.
“Garrett was our star,” Miller said. “Unfortunately, our state qualifier (Dylan Victor) had a small issue with his shoulder and hadn’t fully recovered from his long day on Wednesday.”
Victor, who became Ankeny’s first state qualifier since 2017 by placing second in the district tournament, dropped a 6-1, 6-3 decision to fellow state qualifier Luke Burkamper.
Earlier, Victor posted a 6-1, 6-2 win over Indianola’s Michael Rothchild to help the Hawks to a 5-1 victory in a substate quarterfinal. The Indians finished the season at 8-8.
Ankeny got a three-set win from Kuennen Bodensteiner at the No. 3 singles position to seal the triumph.
“We were very good against Indianola,” Miller said. “The singles players all put out a good effort. After losing his first set, Kuennen came back and finished off the match after having five match points.”
Here are all of the match-by-match results from Saturday:
Ankeny 5, Indianola 1
Singles–Victor beat Rothchild, 6-1, 6-2; Weichers beat Rehmeier, 6-1, 6-1; Bodensteiner beat Jensen, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3; Josten beat Woell, 6-3, 7-5; Schlosser beat Winjum, 6-0, 6-2; Chadwick (I) beat Black, 7-5, 2-6, 6-2.
Cedar Rapids Washington 5, Ankeny 1
Singles–Burkamper beat Victor, 6-1, 6-3; Weichers (A) beat Sherman, 6-1, 6-0; Eilers beat Bodensteiner, 6-1, 6-1; Davis beat Josten, 6-0, 6-0; T. White beat Schlosser, 6-0, 6-0; B. White beat Black, 6-0, 6-4.