For the first time in three years, the Ankeny girls’ tennis team posted an 11-0 shutout on Tuesday.
The Hawkettes dominated a CIML Conference meet at Southeast Polk to keep the Rams winless. Coach Steve Smith’s team improved to 2-3 in the league and 3-4 overall, while Southeast Polk’s records dropped to 0-5 and 0-6.
It was Ankeny’s first shutout since the 2022 season, when the Hawkettes blanked Fort Dodge, Mason City and Waukee Northwest.
“It’s always fun to sweep a team in the state’s toughest tennis conference,” Smith said.
Ankeny lost only two sets on the day–one in singles and another in doubles. The Hawkettes got a 6-0, 6-0 win from Satviki Gorrela at No. 6 singles.
“Satviki played outstanding tonight, crushing it in a double bagel singles victory,” Smith said. “She and KJ (Quirk) then brought an impressive level of energy, focus and confidence to win at No. 3 doubles.
“Satviki is finally seeing in herself what the coaching staff has seen in her for years,” he added.
Kira Smith, Lilith Francel, Sophie Schmitz, Olivia North and Susan Hanley had Ankeny’s other victories in singles.
“Susan also played with a high level of energy and confidence,” Smith said. “She had some unreal serves and net play tonight.”
Francel and Schmitz then teamed up for a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 1 doubles.
“Those two played rock solid against a doubles team that had previously crushed the No. 1 doubles team from Waukee earlier in the season,” Smith said. “That’s a resume-building victory they needed.”
At the No. 5 spot, Rucsandra Vlad made her varsity debut for the Hawkettes, teaming up with Franchesca Ventura for a narrow win.
“Rucsandra was outstanding,” Smith said. “She was really nervous when I told her she was playing varsity, but we’ve been seeing flashes of court 1 level shots from her in practice the last week and she did the same thing throughout her match. Rucsandra and Franchesca played really well.”
Ankeny will travel to Dowling Catholic on Thursday for another conference match against the Maroons.
Here are the match-by-match results from Tuesday’s meet:
Ankeny 11, S.E. Polk 0
Singles: Smith beat Ciesielski, 6-0, 6-1; Francel beat Bartels, 6-1, 6-4; Schmitz beat Wetmore, 6-3, 6-0; North beat Shields, 6-1, 4-6, 1-0 (10-4); Hanley beat Bowers, 6-0, 6-4; Gorrela beat Evans, 6-0, 6-0.
Doubles: Francel-Schmitz beat Ciesielski-Bartels, 6-2, 6-0; North-Hanley beat Wetmore-Shields, 6-2, 6-2; Gorrela-Quirk beat Bowers-Cech, 6-1, 6-0; Dietrich-Doyle beat Evans-Hoffman, 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-5); Veura-Vlad beat Hazelton-Vandehaar, 7-6 (9-7); 6-4.