The Ankeny girls’ tennis squad closed out its season on Tuesday with a 5-0 loss to fourth-ranked Valley in the semifinals of a Class 2A regional team tournament at Crossroads Park.
The Hawkettes, who did not play Valley during the regular season, finished with a 4-9 record.
“Overall, I thought we played well,” said Ankeny coach Steve Smith. “When a first round feed-in team plays one of the top four teams in the state, you expect a quick match with a lot of double bagels. But we had no double bagels, and we competed on every court.”
Ankeny’s Lilith Francel was involved in a tight battle at No. 2 singles when the match was halted after the Tigers had wrapped up the meet.
“Lilith was pushing state singles qualifier Sophie Tannenbaum before the meet was called,” Smith said. “She played the way I’ve known all year that she’s capable of playing. She didn’t over or under hit, but just hit confident shots over and over again. I just wish she had the chance to finish that match.”
Teammate Samara Feldhacker nearly gave Francel that opportunity. Feldhacker rallied in the second set before dropping a 6-0, 6-4 decision to Raegan Reuter at the No. 5 position.
“After Samara got down 1-4 in the second, we talked at the changeover,” Smith said. “As a senior, I told her to just enjoy her moment. She did just that, pushing her opponent to 4-5 before losing.”
Valley (11-3) then went on to beat Urbandale, 5-0, in the regional final. The Tigers advanced to the first round of the state team tournament, which is slated for Saturday at a site to be determined.
“All we can ask of our players is to control what they can control, which is competing to their best ability. They did what we asked of them,” Smith said. “(Assistant) coach (Luke) Parkinson and I were proud of how our team finished the season.”
Here are the match-by-match results:
Valley 5, Ankeny 0
Singles–Moen beat Schmitz, 6-0, 6-1; Tannenbaum vs. Francel, DNF; Shapiro beat DeHaan, 6-1, 6-2; Bird beat North, 6-2, 6-1; Reuter beat Feldhacker, 6-0, 6-4; Keeney beat Ford, 6-2, 6-1.