It was a miserable day for tennis, but that didn’t stop the Ankeny Centennial boys’ team from earning its first win of the season.
Overcoming temperatures in the low 40s, the Jaguars rolled to a 9-2 victory over visiting Des Moines Roosevelt in a non-conference meet on Monday. Both squads are now 1-1 on the season.
“I’m incredibly proud of this team and the way they showed up against a strong Roosevelt team!” said Centennial coach Grant Menadue. “We did a great job of controlling the things that were in our control and playing one point at a time. This team has always been capable of great things, and I think they are finally starting to believe they can go toe to toe with anyone if they put in the work to be prepared.”
Centennial won five of the six singles matches in straight sets. The Roughriders’ only victory came at the No. 1 spot.
The Jaguars also took four of the five doubles matches–three of them in straight sets. The No. 2 doubles team of Reece Dickinson and Nathan Goff prevailed in three sets after dominating the super-tiebreaker, 10-3.
“There is a lot of fight in these guys, and they have earned every point, match and meet they’ve won, but our sights are set on more,” Menadue said. “We have put a lot of emphasis on effort, attitude and supporting one another, and if we continue to do these ‘little’ things right, the sky’s the limit for this program. Now that we have shown what we’re capable of as a team, our standard will be higher moving forward and the expectation is to continue to build on these results. This first team win is something I will forever cherish, but we are far from done and have more work to do.”
Centennial was slated to play its CIML Conference opener at Waukee Northwest on Tuesday, but the meet was postponed until April 27 due to the weather.
The Jaguars will host a non-conference meet against Des Moines East (0-1) on Friday.
Here are the match-by-match results from Monday’s meet:
Ankeny Centennial 9, D.M. Roosevelt 2
Singles: Koganti (R) beat Braun, 6-0, 6-1; George beat Draper, 6-3, 6-3; R. Dickinson beat Doan, 6-1, 6-2; Goff beat Kruse, 6-2, 6-3; Brazeau beat Stagner, 6-3, 6-2; Kolars beat Roecker, 7-5, 6-0.
Doubles: Braun-George beat Koganti-Roecker, 6-2, 6-4; R. Dickinson-Goff beat Draper-Jordan, 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (3); Kolars-Brooks beat Doan-Stagner, 6-1, 6-3; Kruse-Ulrickson (R) beat Brazeau-B. Dickinson, 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (8); May-Law beat Zeff-Lopez Guerrero, 7-5, 6-0.
