A strong performance in doubles allowed the Ankeny girls’ tennis team to post a 7-4 victory over visiting Southeast Polk on Thursday at the Prairie Ridge courts.
After the two teams split the six singles matches, the Hawkettes won four of the five doubles matches to earn their first win in CIML Conference play. They are now 1-4 in the league and 2-6 overall, while Southeast Polk’s records dropped to 0-6 and 1-10.
Ankeny also beat the Rams, 8-3, at the Ankeny Quadrangular on Aug. 22.
“What a great night to be a Hawk!” said Ankeny coach Katie Owens. “We’re really proud of the girls for earning their first (conference) win of the season. The girls have been working hard in practice, focusing on improving with each match, and today that effort showed on the court.”
Ankeny was led by Olivia North and KJ Quirk, who cruised to easy wins at No. 1 and 2 singles, respectively. The duo then teamed up for another victory at No. 1 doubles.
Zoe Hutchinson won a three-set match at No. 6 singles. She then combined with Brynn Blume for another triumph at No. 3 doubles.
The Hawkettes also got wins from the No. 4 doubles team of Emily Doubleday and Shelly Austin and the No. 5 tandem of Jaleigh Moen and Kylee Shanks.
“This victory gives us great momentum and confidence as we continue to grow as a team,” Owens said. “We’re excited to build on this and keep moving forward.”
Ankeny will host a conference meet against Dowling Catholic (5-2) on Tuesday.
Here are the match-by-match results from Thursday’s meet:
Ankeny 7, Southeast Polk 4
Singles: North beat Hoffmann, 6-0, 6-0; Quirk beat Cech, 6-1, 6-2; VanHoozer (SEP) beat Dietrich, 6-2, 2-6, 1-0; Schlickbernd (SEP) beat Vlad, 6-3, 6-3; Doty (SEP) beat Blume, 6-4, 6-0; Hutchinson beat Wall, 6-2, 3-6, 1-0.
Doubles: North-Quirk beat Hoffmann-Cech, 6-4, 6-1; VanHoozer-Schlickbernd (SEP) beat Dietrich-Vlad, 7-6 (4), 6-2; Blume-Hutchinson beat Doty-Wall, 7-5, 6-2; Doubleday-Austin beat Tran-Mootz, 7-5, 7-5; Moen-Shanks beat McRoberts-Williams, 6-2, 6-1.