Bobcat senior Kadin Skala and junior Jacob Eberle had traversed a long comeback trail at No. 3 doubles, dropping the first set, 6-1, and falling behind in the second set, 4-1, before coming all the way back and tying things up at 6-6.

All eyes were on the fourth court at the MHS Tennis Courts as Skala and Eberle started the tiebreaker for the second set against Caleb VanRees and Cameron Rush for the Hawks. Marshalltown took the first point in the tiebreaker but quickly fell behind Ankeny, 6-2, meaning the Bobcats were one point away from elimination, but once again Skala and Eberle refused to give up.

They won the next point, then the next, and before long it went from a 6-2 tiebreaker to just a 6-5 deficit, and the air was full with excitement from the MHS players and fans in attendance. In the next point, however, the Bobcats’ team season would come to an end, as the Hawks stopped the bleeding and took a 7-5 win in the tiebreaker, 7-6 victory in the second set at No. 3 doubles, and a 5-4 victory in the meet to move onto the substate finals against Ames next weekend.

Marshalltown head coach James Christensen said his No. 3 doubles team did a great job rallying to where they were, even if they fell short.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON • Marshalltown junior Luke McKibben prepares to make a backhanded shot in a singles match against Ankeny on Saturday in their preliminary substate team tennis match. McKibben won his singles match and he and Luke Smith won in the doubles round.

“Eberle and Skala at No. 3 saved important point after important point and took that second set to a tiebreaker,” Christensen said. “Then down 2-6 made that furious comeback but they just had one shot. It got a little loose on a backhand volley and Ankeny made us pay.”

Even in the loss, the theme of the day for the Bobcats (6-6) was comebacks. Ankeny (6-5) won the first three matches at Nos. 3, 4 and 5 singles, but then Marshalltown took the next three with Luke McKibben, Luke Smith and Eberle all winning at Nos. 1, 2 and 6 singles.

Even in those wins the MHS boys had to come back. McKibben trailed Logan Scheer 4-1 in the first set before eventually winning, 7-5, Smith trailed Jayce Georgen 4-2 in the second set before eventually winning, 7-5, and Eberle was down 5-1 in the second set against Bush before climbing back to win in a set tiebreak, 7-6.

“Everybody gave it everything they had, you definitely can’t fault any effort from one down to six,” Christensen said. “We knew Ankeny was really good right in the middle of their lineup, we knew that was going to be tough, but we felt like we had a little bit of an advantage up top and we did.”

Eberle actually won both of his sets at No. 6 singles in a tiebreaker, which was important because it sent the teams into the doubles matches at a 3-3 tie instead of the Hawks being up 4-2 and one win away from advancing.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“Jacob Eberle with the double tie-break win, that was huge. He was a late switch and he won some challenges at the end of the year and earned that sixth spot for singles and showed why today,” Christensen said. “He is a very steady presence and was able to wear that guy down. He made him shot after shot after shot after shot and he couldn’t do it.”

McKibben and Smith took care of business again in the doubles matches, as the Bobcat state qualifiers took down Scheer and Georgen in two sets, 6-1, 6-4. That win briefly put MHS up 4-3 in the meet, but then Jack Gruening and Jacob Smith fell to Andrew Snyder and Andrew Schon at No. 2 doubles, 7-5, 6-1, evening things up at 4-4.

Christensen said after a down match in singles for Gruening he rounded out better in the doubles round, but it just wasn’t enough.

“They got to great positions, they just couldn’t hit that last shot,” Christensen said. “Jack was much more aggressive in that but we just couldn’t finish it, which was maddening.”

Given how the substate process works, with the meets going from 11 total matches to nine, Christensen said the margin for error was razor thin.

“This is a very short-lineup event and you have a couple of people have an off day it’s tough to recover,” he said.

Still, the Bobcats continued to battle even when facing enormous odds, and Christensen said that goes back to how the guys prepare.

“That says a lot about them and how mentally strong they are and how much they kind of like each other as a team. They don’t want to let anybody down,” he said. “Some of the things we do in practice I think helps them be able to dig out of holes, sometimes we will place mismatched opponents each other and say ‘you’re starting off down love-30.’ Just put them holes and see if they can mentally dig out of it.”

With the loss, the Bobcats’ team season comes to an end, though of course Luke Smith and McKibben still have the state doubles competition to prepare for. Christensen said looking back this has been an extremely successful season, despite the bitter way it ended.

“When we set out this year we had a couple of goals,” he said. “Send a singles or doubles team to state, checked that off. Finish with a .500 or above record, even with a couple rainouts we checked that one off. We wanted to advance in the team competition, we checked that one off. Granted, we kind of moved the goalposts and we really wanted to make it one more day, but we just ran into a slightly-better team today.”

Most of the Bobcats will be back next season, including five of the seven that played against Ankeny on Saturday, but Christensen said it will still hurt to lose players like Skala and Joe Kennedy next year.

“It’s tough to say too much about the seniors that played today,” he said. “If you would have told me how big of a contributor Kadin Skala was going to be when he was a freshman, I wouldn’t have believed you. He’s worked his butt off not only on the tennis court but just as a leader. He’s still the same, goofy Kadin that he was four years ago but he knows when to turn it on and off.

“Joe Kennedy moved in last year and has just been a really steady, calm presence for our team. He has been that rock that we can count on most of the time and it’s usually a couple of good matches every day.”

Unlike recent seasons, however, the Marshalltown boys are not done for the season, as McKibben and Luke Smith now prepare for their doubles run in the state tournament. Christensen said the most important thing for those two in the next two weeks until the state meet starts on May 25 at Veterans Memorial Tennis Complex in Cedar Rapids will be to get their bodies and minds right for competition.

“We have two weeks so we kind of have to pace ourselves, we don’t want to peak tomorrow,” he said. “I am going to give them a little time off, going to take a little mental break and rest up our joints. After districts and today the shoulders, elbows, knees and everything, even with these young bucks they tend to need a little bit of love and care there.”

Preliminary Substate Team Tennis

CLASS 2A

Ankeny 5, Marshalltown 4

At Marshalltown

Singles

Luke McKibben (MHS) def. Logan Scheer, 7-5, 6-2

Luke Smith (MHS) def. Jayce Georgen, 6-4, 7-5

Andrew Snyder (A) def. Jack Gruening, 6-0, 6-3

Andrew Schon (A) def. Jacob Smith, 6-0, 6-3

Caleb VanRees (A) def. Joe Kennedy, 6-0, 6-0

Jacob Eberle (MHS) def. Cameron Bush, 7-6, 7-6

Doubles

McKibben and L. Smith (MHS) def. Scheer and Georgen, 6-1, 6-4

Snyder and Schon (A) def. Gruening and J. Smith, 7-5, 6-1

VanRees and Bush (A) def. Eberle and Kadin Skala, 6-1, 7-6

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