On a cloudy, chilly Thursday afternoon at the MHS Tennis Complex, Marshalltown girls’ tennis began its home slate with a matchup against the state’s defending champions in Ames.

Predictably, the youthful Bobcats had a difficult time playing against the Little Cyclones — falling 9-2 in the team scores.

But in just the second meet of the season after losing 21 seniors to graduation following the canceled 2020 season, head coach John Fiscus said he was pleased with how the team fought.

“The girls tonight were playing fairly well,” Fiscus said. “We’re playing defending state champions and the girls played better than we did a couple of years ago against Ames, so that’s always a big positive.”

The Bobcats won one match in singles and one match in doubles. In singles, it was from junior Cassandre Lecompte, a foreign exchange student from France who has played tennis throughout her youth. Lecompte defeated Ames No. 1 Sophia Cordoba 6-3, 6-4 in singles and showcased her powerful, if not a little erratic, serving and aggressive volleys.

Fiscus said Lecompte’s competitive nature and ability has already begun to rub off on the rest of the team, most of whom have not had any varsity experience before this season.

Regan Smith lost 3-6, 1-6 to Katie Gu, Rebekah Downs lost 1-6, 4-6 to Haley Reeves, Brianna Hargrave fell to Suya Que 0-6, 0-6.

Kaitlyn Tiernan lost by the same scoreline to Angelina Chen and Emily Diggins lost 2-6, 4-6 to Samantha Berg to round out the singles results.

Fiscus said the team’s reps in competitive meets are very important to their development.

“Winning a game here and there [this early], that’s success,” Fiscus said. “Just learning the sport, because you really don’t learn the sport unless you play it and I think that’s where they’re at. Playing the matches against other teams has really helped the team’s mindset.”

The team’s only victory in the doubles came from Lecompte and Smith, who used a difficult set one win to beat Cordoba and Reeves 7-6 (8-6), 6-1. Downs and Hargrave fell 1-6, 1-6 to the duo of Gu and Lola Campbell. Tiernan and Chesni Uhde lost 2-6, 0-6 to Chen and Que, while Diggins and Grace Bethel fought hard but lost 4-6, 1-6 to Berg and Anna Nguyen. In the fifth and final doubles match, Claire Bohan and Taylor Jones were beaten by Ava Chopskie and Lauren Anderson 2-6, 2-6.

This is just one of many meets for the Bobcats, who play Friday at Newton.

——

Ames 9, Marshalltown 2

Singles

Cassandra Lecompte (MHS) def. Sophia Cordoba, 6-3, 6-4

Katie Gu (A) def. Regan Smith, 6-3, 6-1

Haley Reeves (A) def. Rebekah Downs, 6-1, 6-4

Suya Que (A) def. Brianna Hargrave, 6-0, 6-0

Angelina Chen (A) def. Kaitlyn Tiernan, 6-0, 6-0

Samantha Berg (A) def. Emily Diggins, 6-2, 6-4

Doubles

Lecompte and Smith (MHS) def. Cordoba and Reeves, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1

Gu and Lola Campbell (A) def. Downs and Hargrave, 6-1, 6-1

Que and Chen (A) def. Tiernan and Chesni Uhde, 6-2, 6-0

Berg and Anna Nguyen (A) def. Diggins and Grace Bethel, 6-4, 6-1

Ava Chopskie and Lauren Anderson (A) def. Claire Bohan and Taylor Jones, 6-2, 6-2