JOHNSTON — Newton High’s girls finally got their 2015 tennis season underway Saturday. The Cardinals finished sixth in the Johnston Invitational.
“We took fifth in all divisions except No. 2 singles. Almost every entry had a win or two, which is nice to build some confidence and get the season started,” said Erick Zehr, Newton girls’ head coach.
Scores were based on how many points a player or doubles team scored in each match.
West Des Moines Valley won the team title with 141 points followed by Johnston with 137, Ankeny Centennial 130, Waukee 139 and Fort Dodge with 77. Newton scored 63 points.
Newton’s No. 1 doubles team of senior McKenna Heisdorffer and sophomore Megan Pressgrove went 2-3 on the day. Their wins came against Fort Dodge, 6-3, over Anna Bruen and Sam Brown, and a 5-4 decision over Valley’s Kelsie Peterson and Lauren Hoffart.
Heisdorffer and Pressgrove lost 5-4 to Johnston’s Emma Grace Walter and Subaritha Chander. They lost 6-3 to Waukee’s Olivia Lacona and Sara Wadle and dropped an 8-1 decision to Olivia Coe and Brenda Guan of Ankeny Centennial.
Senior Marisa Modlin and junior Sierra Griffith gave Newton a 2-3 record in No. 2 doubles action. They racked up 6-3 wins over Waukee’s Abbey Fouts and Hannah Burmeister and Fort Dodge’s Briawna Barkema and Kaylie Dalhgren.
Modlin and Griffith lost 8-1 to Johnston’s Xiao Liu and Georgia Carroll. They lost 9-0 to Ankeny Centennial’s Michell Nitschke and Kayla Peterson and lost 5-4 to Valley’s Sarah Thompson and Ashlyn Shumaker.
Zehr said Heisdorffer and Pressgrove had a good day on the courts. He said Modlin and Griffith played strongly for long stretches in their matches.
In No. 3 doubles, Newton’s sophomore Katherine Thorpe and senior Melanie Stice posted a 1-4 record. They had a 6-3 win over Cate Hatton and Broke Hornnick of Fort Dodge.
“Mel and Katherine did a great job in their first varsity matches,” Zehr said.
Thorpe and Stice dropped 7-2 decisions to Johnston’s Bailey Polhman and Megan Hartle, Waukee Mara Loftsgard and Steph Baeth and Valley’s Rachel Cran and Lucy Brown. They lost 5-4 to Abby Smith and Katie Miller of Ankeny Centennial.
Juniors Kate Wyre and Madison Humphrey played No. 1 singles and No. 2 singles, respectively, for the Cardinals. Wyre was 1-4 and Humphrey went 0-5.
Wyre defeated Maddie Volk of Ankeny Centennial, 6-3. She lost 8-1 to Fort Dodge’s Beth Murman. Wyre dropped 9-0 decisions to S. Nathwani of Johnston, Bri Young of Waukee and Chloe Jefferies of Valley.
Humphrey lost 8-1 to Emma Hieser of Johnston. She had 7-2 losses to Noelle Barber of Fort Dodge and Claudia Stewart of Valley. Humphrey lost 9-0 to Ankeny Centennial’s Halley Harris and Waukee’s Allie Witte.
“Kate did awesome in her first varsity singles matches. Madison made some great progress as well,” Zehr said.
“We have a long way to go, but we played lots of competitive matches against some of the top teams in the state. Everyone played significantly better in their later matches as well, so I was excited to see the progress we made. We’re looking to continue building against Marshalltown on Monday.”
Newton travels to Marshalltown Monday in a rescheduled meet. Matches begin at 4:15 p.m.
Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com