There were some bright spots for the Ankeny boys’ tennis team on Tuesday despite the Hawks’ 11-0 loss to visiting Waukee Northwest.
The result was not a surprise because Northwest has yet to lose even a single match during CIML Conference play. The Wolves are now 7-0 in the league and 10-0 overall, while Ankeny’s records dropped to 1-6 and 3-6.
The Hawks nearly pulled off a couple of wins.
“(Northwest) had a watered-down lineup, but we played as well as we have all year,” said Ankeny coach Ron Miller. “Garrett (Weichers) nearly had a huge upset.”
Weichers won the opening set at No. 1 singles before Northwest’s Vivek Kothari rallied for a three-set victory. Kothari won by scores of 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (5).
Ankeny’s No. 5 doubles team of Holden Sungren and Owen Johnson also lost in three sets, 6-0, 5-7, 1-0 (5). Teammates Grady Schlosser and Michael Black lost two close sets at No. 2 doubles, including a tiebreaker in the second set.
“I am hoping that if we win on Thursday we’ll have a small chance to make substate as they only allow 32 teams this year,” Miller said.
The Hawks will host a conference meet against Urbandale on Thursday to close out the regular season. It will be their Senior Night.
The J-Hawks are 2-5 in the league and 5-8 overall after losing to Waukee, 11-0, on Tuesday.
Here are the match-by-match results from Tuesday’s meet:
Waukee Northwest 11, Ankeny 0
Singles: Kothari beat Weichers, 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (5); Wang beat Schlosser, 6-1, 6-0; Gibbs beat Black, 6-3, 6-2; Steffensmeier beat Riesberg, 6-1, 6-0; Elfers beat Perez, 6-2, 6-4; Custer beat Garcia, 6-2, 6-1.
Doubles: Steffensmeier-Tingley beat Weichers-Riesberg, 6-2, 6-1; Gibbs-Signani beat Schlosser-Black, 6-4, 7-6 (2); Elfers-Custer beat Perez-Garcia, 6-0, 6-0; Wetzel-Latta beat Geest-Gray, 6-1, 6-1; Briggs-Eddington beat Sungren-Johnson, 6-0, 5-7, 1-0 (5).