North Polk too much for Newton girls in regional team tennis opener

ALLEMAN — Once Paige Benson figured out both of her opponents, her singles match flipped in her favor on Friday.

Benson rallied from an early hole against North Polk’s Harika Cakinberk at No. 1 singles, but it was the only win the Cardinals picked up during their Class 1A Region 4 opening-round matchup.

The Newton girls tennis team fell behind 4-0 early and never recovered as North Polk ended its season with a 5-1 victory.

“North Polk is a really good team. They have a lot of seniors,” Newton head girls tennis coach Erick Zehr said. “We had a lot of close matches the first time around. They were just better today though.”

The Cardinals fell 7-3-1 to North Polk in their first matchup earlier this season. Friday’s regional matchups end as soon as one team reaches five wins.

Newton battled not only a quality Comets squad but a brutal wind that often knocked hats and visors off players’ heads.

It was weather conditions Benson said the team dealt with in practices this spring but not in competition.

“We’ve played in the wind before, but it’s usually in practice and not in meets. It was definitely a challenge,” Benson said. “Once I learned how to play in the wind and how she plays in the wind, things went much better for me. I definitely served better in the final two sets.”

Cakinberk, who is a multiple-time state qualifier, downed Benson 6-2 in the opening set. But the Cardinal senior forced a third set tiebreaker with a 6-4 win in the second set.

Benson gave her squad a chance with a 10-8 win in the third set. But no other Cardinal got into the win column to at least push the dual to doubles.

Morgan Frehse and Sloan Brodersen both lost three-set matches at No. 4 and No. 5 singles, respectively.

Alexis Dirksen, Brooklyn Sterling and Emersyn Gross each dropped their singles matches in straight sets.

“The conditions weren’t ideal, but in the end, they’re just a really good team which is well coached,” Zehr said. “They have multi-time state qualifiers at No. 1 and No. 2.

“The wind was as much of an opponent today as North Polk was. But they adapted better to the conditions than we did. Everyone worked their tails off. They wanted it bad, but we just didn’t have it today.”

North Polk (9-7) advanced to the regional quarterfinals where it will face Union Community (10-6) at 9 a.m. on Tuesday in Grinnell.

The Cardinals ended their season at 4-7. But they will get back to it in a few short months as high school girls tennis in Iowa shifts to the fall in 2025-26.

“We’re approaching it like one big season instead of two splits,” Zehr said. “We’ll do our banquet and then transition into the offseason quickly. We start again August 4. It’s crazy to think about.”