Luke McKibben and Luke Smith

Last season the Marshalltown boys tennis team reached heights it hadn’t seen in quite some time.

The Bobcats ended a five-year state tournament drought with the doubles team of Luke McKibben and Luke Smith earning a qualification, and MHS was a preliminary substate qualifier after finishing second as a team at the district meet.

With the new-found success, the Bobcats also felt the agony of falling from that high perch, as they lost to Ankeny in the preliminary team substate dual, and McKibben and Smith went 0-2 in the state tournament. Marshalltown boys tennis head coach James Christensen said that disappointment at the end of the season has weighed heavily on the boys throughout the offseason.

“We left some unfinished business last year,” he said. “We met a lot of our goals, finished second in districts, moved on in postseason team play, getting a state-qualifier in doubles and a state alternate in singles, we checked off a lot of stuff. But once you get there you kind of want a little bit more.”

Though his team didn’t accomplish its ultimate goals last season, Christensen said that was actually a blessing in disguise with so much of the team returning for at least the upcoming year.

“Losing 5-4 to Ankeny, being a point or two away from going off to the substate meet, that left a mark on some of these guys. Having Luke and Luke at state was awesome, having them go 0-2 was actually good for them I think,” he said. “I looked back and Ryan Shomo, a guy that is a legend here in our program, his first time at state he went 0-2. The second time he came back he was an all-state, sixth-place guy and it was pretty awesome. It takes a little bit of learning sometimes and I think the second time around on some of these things people are a little more prepared.”

The two Lukes, McKibben and Smith, are the headliners of the team as they return for their senior year, and they are followed closely by junior Jack Gruening, who was a singles alternate for the state tournament last season.

Since they went 0-2 in their first state trip and they have one chance left to make it back to the final meet, Christensen said it would be understandable if McKibben and Smith were antsy or nervous in the early practices, but that hasn’t been the case.

“I am glad that I really haven’t seen that. They both seem to be having fun, being relaxed,” Christensen said. “If they hadn’t gotten there last year, they might have that nervous energy about them, but they are both so relaxed and they know they can do it. They just know they need to show up, play their best, get better during this time and everything will take care of itself.”

Part of that relaxed nature for those two has actually come from stepping away from the game a bit after such a grind of a season, Christensen said.

“Some of our top guys put so much into getting it there that they needed a little bit of a break. They did some things, McKibben went fishing, Smith played some basketball, they kind of recharged a little bit but once the calendar year turned to January they started ramping it up again,” Christensen said.

As for Gruening, Christensen said he’s taken a different approach after narrowly missing a state qualification himself last year.

“Jack has been focused 52 weeks of the year. Vacations, he’s got the racket along with him,” Christensen said. “He’s been playing in some tournaments over the winter and he’s been at every open court. He’s been grinding pretty hard and you can see in his game that he has added some wrinkles. He’s added quite a lot of pop to his serve, placement on short balls, things you could get away with against Jack last year he’s making you pay for now.”

While the three names at the top of the team remain the same, Christensen the gap in talent between the top three and their supporting cast has greatly decreased.

“The biggest thing I think was some of the success last year rubbing off on some of the guys that weren’t a part of it,” he said. “We had a lot of guys that were mid-JV last year that are going to be seeing some varsity playing time for us.”

There are three holes missing last season in graduated seniors Joe Kennedy, Kadin Skala and Reed Fricke, but Christensen said there are many, many kids who he thinks can step right into those roles without missing a beat.

“Last year who knew Kadin Scala and Joe Kennedy and Jacob Eberle and some of these guys would have the performances that they did? Now we expect that out of Jacob Eberle. Jacob Smith was a solid four for us last year after taking a year off of tennis,” he said. “We are literally at 17 guys that I feel comfortable trotting out there against Valley, and the difference between No. 7 and 17 is small. That’s one of the hard parts as a coach, I have to figure out who the 12 guys or 10 guys, who are my best and how do I pair them up? That’s a great problem to have, there have been years where it’s clear cut, I have 10 guys who can play and the No. 11 is a clear JV guy. This year that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Some of the new talent didn’t even have a chance to compete last year because they weren’t old enough yet.

“Kevin Strand has been a huge addition, he’s a freshman coming in and is most likely going to play in the top four singles for us,” Christensen said. “Any time where a guy gets knocked down the lineup and they still got better, that’s a good thing because you know you’ve added another layer.”

One of the most important things about this team, Christensen said, is that it is made up of athletes who do different things. Both McKibben, Smith and Gruening are mainly tennis players, but outside of the top three it’s multi-sport athletes who have experienced success in their other sports now contributing to success on the tennis courts.

“It’s huge not only for our program but for every other sports program and our town in general,” Christensen said. “If you go back and look at one of our most successful seasons as a school a decade ago in 2009, we had all these guys that played football, basketball, basketball, cross country. They were two-, three-, four-sport guys and they did it all for each other. A kid like Jacob Smith, he’s not a tennis guy. He’s a football player, he’s a basketball player, and his cousin Luke Smith is a tennis player. Luke goes out for basketball, Jacob goes out for tennis. They get each other out for stuff. It’s not just a tennis thing, it’s a whole Bobcat thing.”

A year removed from a state qualifying dual team, a singles player earning a state alternate spot and the team as a whole qualifying for the pre-substate duals, Christensen said the boys know what it takes to be successful and they aren’t shying away from some lofty goals.

“They want to finish top eight in the state, and I think that’s a doable thing,” he said. “I think we are one of the four or five best teams on this side of the state, the eastern side of the state is deep and strong but I think we can compete with anybody on this side of the state. To finish in the top eight is definitely doable, and we want to finish in the top eight as an individual as well, either in doubles or singles. Ten wins is a big goal for us in our dual meets, I’ve never done that as a coach.”

That quest for a top-eight finish will start on Monday at the Valley Invite in West Des Moines, starting at 9:30 a.m. The Bobcats will then be at home their next two meets, hosting Ankeny Centennial on Tuesday and Southeast Polk on Thursday, with both meets starting at 4 p.m.

After those two home duals Marshalltown will be on the road until finishing with three-straight home meets against Mason City on April 25, Waukee on April 30 and Ames on May 2.

With everything the team wants laid before it, Christensen said it is now up to the boys to claim what could be a season to remember.

“Our big question has been, ‘when are we going to get this stuff done? When are we going to beat Valley? When are we going to get 10 wins? When are we going to go to team state and finish in the top eight?'” he said. “This group is committed, these seniors are the ones who want to change the question from ‘when?’ to ‘how many times?'”