Tuesday’s season opener provided a huge test for the inexperienced Ankeny Centennial girls’ tennis team.
With only three returning varsity regulars, the Jaguars traveled to Waukee Northwest to face one of the state’s top squads. The Wolves dominated the CIML Conference matchup, rolling to an 11-0 victory.
Northwest won four of the singles matches without dropping a set. The Wolves then earned two more shutouts in doubles.
“We knew going into the meet that it was going to be a battle due to our lack of varsity experience,” said Centennial coach Alli Gustafson. “I am proud of how the team stepped up to gain experience and face adversity. We had two super tiebreaks that didn’t fall our way.”
Centennial’s Samara Peterson nearly pulled out a win at No. 1 singles. She fell to Riley Hilton in three sets, 6-1, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7).
“Samara did a great job of changing strategy during her second set of singles,” Gustafson said. “She was able to use her backhand to force errors from her opponent to battle throughout the match, but she was not able to clinch the super.”
The Jaguars also won a set at No. 4 doubles, where the duo of Natalie Carr and Madison Gorsh dropped a 1-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-1) decision to Sofia Everett and Katie Hammond.
“Madison and Natalie used their volleys to end the point during their match. They worked together to set each other up at the net,” Gustafson said. “Overall, I am very proud of the girls, and I am excited to see our growth throughout the rest of the season!”
Here are the match-by-match results:
Waukee Northwest 11, Ankeny Centennial 0
Singles: Hilton beat Peterson, 6-1, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7); Taylor beat Bhat, 6-0, 6-0; Deines beat Swanson, 6-0, 6-0; Steffensmeier beat Hanson, 6-0, 6-0; Weber beat Piper, 6-0, 6-0; Osier beat Sutherland, 6-1, 6-3.
Doubles: Taylor-Deines beat Peterson-Bhat, 6-0, 6-0; Hilton-Steffensmeier beat Swanson-Hanson, 6-0, 6-0; Weber-Osier beat Piper-Sutherland, 6-3, 6-1; Everett-Hammond beat Carr-Gorsh, 1-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-1); Kinariwala-Stanger beat Bohnenkamp-Zhang, 6-2, 6-0.