The Ankeny Centennial girls’ tennis team had its two closest meets of the season on back-to-back days.
After dropping a 6-5 decision at Southeast Polk on Thursday, the Jaguars rebounded on Friday with a 6-5 victory over Ames in a non-conference meet.
Centennial took a 4-2 lead after singles against both opponents. The Jaguars were unable to get the two wins in doubles that they needed against Southeast Polk, but they did so against Ames–which dropped to 7-5 on the season.
“It was great to end our season with our full lineup taking the court!” said Centennial coach Alli Gustafson, whose team improved to 2-10 overall. “We had several super-tiebreakers again against Ames, and we were able to take control in some of these matches to come out on top. It was a great end to our regular season, and I am so proud of the girls for stepping up and competing from the first point to the last.”
Samara Peterson, Talia Baca, Kalyani Bhat and Kaley Swanson each won their singles matches for the Jaguars. Swanson then teamed up with Natalie Carr for a three-set win at No. 3 doubles, while the No. 2 duo of Imrie Hanson and Ella Sutherland prevailed in straight sets.
On Thursday, the Rams rallied to earn their first victory. They improved to 1-7 in the CIML Conference and 1-9 overall, while Centennial finished 0-8 in the league.
“After going 4-2 in singles, we went into super-tiebreakers in every doubles match,” Gustafson said. “We weren’t able to close in doubles when we were given the opportunities, and Southeast Polk was able to.”
The Jaguars will travel to Ames on Monday to compete in a Class 2A regional singles and doubles tournament.
Here are the match-by-match results from both meets:
Southeast Polk 6, Centennial 5
Singles: Ciesielski (SEP) beat Baca, 6-3, 6-3; Bhat (AC) beat Bartels, 6-2, 6-1; Wetmore (SEP) beat Hanson, 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-4); Sutherland (AC) beat Shields, 6-2, 7-6 (5); Swanson (AC) beat Bowers, 6-4, 7-5; Carr (AC) beat H. Cech, 6-0, 6-1.
Doubles: Ciesielski-Bartels (SEP) beat Baca-Bhat, 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-5); Wetmore-Shields (SEP) beat Hanson-Sutherland, 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-6); Swanson-Carr (AC) beat Bowers-Hoffmann, 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (10-8); H. Cech-K. Cech (SEP) beat Piper-Schulz, 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-2); Hazelton-Vandehaar (SEP) beat Gorsh-Weesner, 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (10-3).
Centennial 6, Ames 5
Singles: Peterson (AC) beat Chen, 6-1, 6-2; Baca (AC) beat Oetker, 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-6); Bhat (AC) beat Mao, 6-2, 7-5; Dassanayake (Am) beat Hanson, 6-3, 6-4; Goodenow (Am) beat Sutherland, 6-1, 6-3; Swanson (AC) beat Gens, 6-4, 6-4.
Doubles: Oetker-Mao (Am) beat Baca-Bhat, 6-3, 6-3; Hanson-Sutherland (AC) beat Dassanayake-Jones, 7-5, 6-4; Swanson-Carr (AC) beat Lee-Nguyen, 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (10-1); Fulton-Cho (Am) beat Piper-Schulz, 6-1, 6-7 (3), 1-0 (10-8); Carlat-Thorson (Am) beat Bohnenkamp-Weesner, 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (11-9).