In its first test of the season, the Ankeny girls’ tennis team dropped a 9-2 decision to visiting Valley in a CIML Conference matchup on Tuesday.
It was also the season opener for the Tigers, who won five of the six singles matches and four of the five doubles matches.
“We’ve been having extremely intense practices the first two weeks to attempt to close the gap between our team and the elite teams in the state,” said Ankeny coach Steve Smith. “I’ve already seen a ton of improvement from my team, but we knew it would be a tough matchup for us to have to play the No. 3-ranked team with the No. 9 and 10 individuals in the state at our first meet. Our team focuses on process-oriented goals rather than results-oriented goals. So I challenged the team to compete at their best ability, regardless of their opponent or the score.
“Overall, I thought our team did a great job of competing,” he added.
Ankeny senior Kira Smith posted a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Sophie Tannenbaum at No. 1 singles. Smith, a two-time state qualifier, returned to the Hawkettes’ lineup after spending the last 1 1/2 years at the Gomez Tennis Academy in Naples, Fla.
“Kira battled some early nerves, but overcame them to win the last eight games of the match against the No. 10 player in the state,” said her father.
Smith then teamed up with Susan Hanley for a 6-4, 6-4 win over Rory Bird and Raegan Reuter at No. 2 doubles.
“Susan competed well in both her doubles and singles match,” Smith said. “In her singles match, she came back from a 1-4 deficit to tie the first set at 5–5 before losing the set, 7-5. She keeps improving every single day.”
Smith also praised the effort of Sophie Schmitz, who dropped a 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) decision to Kaitlyn Nguyen at No. 2 singles.
“Sophie absolutely battled against the No. 9 player in the state, almost pulling off a huge upset win,” Smith said. “Sophie also played a great doubles match with Lilith (Francel) against a team likely to be seeded in the state tournament and had chances to win the first set. I’m happy with the progress we’re making each day, and I’m glad to see some of that progress show in the meet tonight.
“We’re looking forward to playing another ranked team on Thursday (at Waterloo Columbus),” Smith said.
Here are the match-by-match results:
Valley 9, Ankeny 2
Singles: Smith (A) beat Tannenbaum, 6-3, 6-0; Nguyen beat Schmitz, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4); Bird beat Francel, 6-2, 6-4; Reuter beat North, 6-2, 6-1; Keeney beat Hanley, 7-5, 6-0; Lepe beat Gorrela, 6-0, 6-2.
Doubles: Tannenbaum-Nguyen beat Schmitz-Francel, 6-4, 6-1; Smith-Hanley (A) beat Bird-Reuter, 6-4, 6-4; Keeney-Lepe beat North-Gorrela, 6-0, 6-3; Carter-Polson beat Dietrich-Quirk, 6-3, 6-3; Morrow-A. Johnson beat Ventura-K. Johnson, 6-2, 6-2.
