The Ankeny Centennial girls’ tennis squad advanced to the final of a Class 2A regional team tournament on Tuesday before dropping a 5-0 decision to third-ranked Waukee Northwest, which hosted the meet.
The Jaguars, who posted a 5-1 win over Norwalk in the semifinal round, ended the season with a 7-4 record. The Warriors finished 6-6.
“Although today did not end the way we had hoped it would, all of the girls battled until the end,” said Centennial coach Alli Gustafson. “While playing against Norwalk in the morning, I was happy to see the girls play confidently and in control from the start. That helped us get five wins in singles and moved us forward to the regional final before going to doubles.”
Centennial had no answers for Northwest, its CIML Conference rival. The Wolves (12-3) advanced to the first round of the state team tournament, where they will play No. 1 Dowling Catholic (13-0) on Saturday.
Northwest, which suffered a 6-2 loss at Dowling on April 30, did not face Centennial during the regular season. The two teams were supposed to play on May 2, but the meet was cancelled due to bad weather.
“In the afternoon, we came out strong and competed, but ultimately couldn’t hold out against Waukee Northwest,” Gustafson said. “We struggled to end points and could not stay in control of points. We found ourselves making errors before they did. Northwest was a strong team that played great today. Although our season ends here, I am proud of all of the things we accomplished this season. These seniors have helped to develop our program throughout the past several years and have come a long ways. They will be missed big time!”
Here are the match-by-match results from the regional final:
Waukee Northwest 5, Centennial 0
Singles–Hilton beat S. Peterson, 6-2, 6-0; Taylor beat Yuan, 6-1, 6-1; Deines beat Baca, 6-0, 6-0; Paulsen beat Benkufsky, 6-0, 6-4; Gibbs vs. Lofgren, DNF; Schindera beat Mixdorf, 6-1, 6-3.