Newton tennis teams fall to Pella

Newton’s girls tennis team was down several starters during its Little Hawkeye Conference home match with Pella on Tuesday at Aurora Heights Park.

The end result for the short-handed Cardinals was an 11-0 loss to the Dutch. Ten of the 11 matches were straight-set wins and Newton (3-6 overall, 1-5 in conference play) didn’t win more than two games in any of those sets.

Maggie Garrett was in her normal No. 1 position, but Lauryn Garrett moved up to No. 2 singles as Chassidy Henwood was gone due to the conference track meet.

Kya Butler was out due to an illness and No. 4 and No. 5 singles players Katie McConnell and Jerica Dafflitto also did not play singles. Alyssa Shannon was at the conference track meet and did not play doubles.

That forced Megan Lovan to move up from No. 6 singles to No. 3 singles and Molly Lovan, Ella Swarts and Olivia Hotchkin also played varsity singles.

The absences also moved Mae Dam, Madison Rinehart, Laura Sander and Kaylanna Seu into varsity doubles action.

Maggie and Lauryn Garrett lost in three sets at No. 1 doubles, falling 7-5, 2-6, 10-5.

BOYS

Pella 11, Newton 0

PELLA — The Newton boys tennis team lost 11-0 to Pella on Tuesday during an LHC road matchup. The Dutch won all 11 matches in straight sets.

“We went up against a great Pella team,” Newton boys tennis coach Jared Gerber said. “They are solid across the board and will be competing for a state championship in the next few weeks.”

Thomas Hodnett was the only Cardinal to win more than one game in a set in singles competition.

William Muckler and Landon Heisdorffer lost 6-0, 6-3 in doubles and Seth Adams and Kyler Van Brogen lost their second set 6-4. Those were the only two matches in doubles that saw Newton win more than two games in a set.

“The scores don’t fully show the great points and games that were played,” Gerber said. “We’re excited for our regular season finale on (May 6) and then conference and districts next week.”