Both Ankeny and Ankeny Centennial advanced to the semifinal round of the girls’ Class 2A regional team tennis competition with victories on Friday at the Prairie Ridge courts.
The Hawkettes posted a 5-0 win over Southeast Polk. They blanked the Rams (1-10) for the second time this season.
“Our goal on the day was to not have to play doubles,” said Ankeny coach Steve Smith, whose team improved to 4-8. “We had a few tough sets on a couple of courts, but we achieved our goal.”
Kira Smith, Sophie Schmitz, Lilith Francel, Olivia North and Satviki Gorrela each won in straight sets for Ankeny, which will now travel to Pleasant Valley to face Waterloo West (12-4) on Tuesday at 9 a.m.
“We know we’ll be the underdog,” Smith said. “But we don’t mind when teams overlook us.”
The Jaguars are also headed to Pleasant Valley after outlasting Des Moines Roosevelt, 5-4, on Friday. They will meet the host Spartans (14-6), with the two winners to then collide in the regional final at 1 p.m.
Centennial won two of the three doubles matches to seal the win against Roosevelt, which finished with a 6-8 mark. The two teams had split the six singles matches.
“We had a close meet, but we were able to win important points when it was needed to move on to the next round,” said Centennial coach Alli Gustafson, whose team is now 3-10. “Overall, we are showing immense growth from the beginning of the season, and we are ready to continue our run on Tuesday!”
Ella Sutherland, Kaley Swanson and Natalie Carr each won their singles matches for the Jaguars, who played without No. 1 player Samara Peterson. Peterson qualified for the state tournament in singles on Monday, but continues to battle a back injury.
“Natalie stepped up in singles because of Samara’s injury,” Gustafson said. “She played great in both singles and when she teamed up with Kaley in doubles. In singles, Natalie had a consistent baseline game that proved to be dominant.”
Swanson and Carr then cruised to an easy victory at No. 3 doubles. Sutherland teamed up with Imrie Hanson for another straight-set win at No. 2 doubles that sealed the triumph.
“Kaley’s work ethic and mental toughness really showed on the court when she was able to clinch the match tiebreaker,” Gustafson said. “Ella and Imrie had a strong showing in doubles. They anticipated each other’s movements and covered the court well. I was proud of Kalyani (Bhat) and Talia (Baca) in doubles as well for coming back and dominating the second set. They cleaned up their game by being more aggressive at the net and more consistent at the baseline. Although they lost in the match tiebreaker, they had a great match with their team communication and strategy work with each point.”
Now, both the Jaguars and Hawkettes will make the long trip to Pleasant Valley with the possibility of potentially meeting each other for the right to advance to state.
“It’s great that both Ankeny teams won,” Smith said.
Here are the match-by-match results from both meets:
Ankeny 5, Southeast Polk 0
Singles: Smith beat Ciesielski, 6-1, 6-0; Schmitz beat Bartels, 6-1, 6-1; Francel beat Wetmore, 6-4, 6-0; North beat Shields, 6-0, 7-6 (2), Hanley vs. Bowers, DNF; Gorrela beat Cech, 6-0, 6-0.
Centennial 5, Des Moines Roosevelt 4
Singles: Brown (R) beat Baca, 6-1, 6-1; From (R) beat Bhat, 6-2, 6-3; Whitehead (R) beat Hanson, 1-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-7); Sutherland (AC) beat Liening, 7-6 (2), 6-3; Swanson (AC) beat Short, 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-5); Carr (AC) beat Vance, 6-1, 6-1.
Doubles: Brown-From (R) beat Baca-Bhat, 6-2, 1-6, 1-0 (9); Hanson-Sutherland (AC) beat Short-Rodgers, 7-6 (2), 6-3; Swanson-Carr (AC) beat Mauk-Conrad, 6-1, 6-0.
