More than two weeks after qualifying for the Boys State Tennis Singles and Doubles Championships, the Marshalltown boys’ tennis squad will finally take the court in Cedar Rapids with what is believed to be the largest state contingent the program has ever sent that far.

But for as long as it’s been since they’ve played in that format, the Bobcats couldn’t be more ready to compete.

State tournament play begins this morning at 9:30 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial Tennis Center with one Marshalltown singles player and two doubles teams set to find out how far they can go in their respective Class 2A brackets.

The sixth-ranked Bobcats reached their dual-team end last Saturday, coming up short against No. 4 West Des Moines Valley in the first round of the state tournament. Marshalltown claimed its first district title since 2002 by beating Des Moines Roosevelt earlier in the day, but the Tigers took down the ‘Cats in the match to advance to the final four.

The Bobcats reveled in receiving the program’s first and only other team trophy since that 2002 contingent reached the final four, but they were equally bummed about falling short of one last team tournament.

“Honestly I couldn’t let go of the trophy,” MHS head coach James Christensen confessed. “We didn’t put it in the trophy case right away. The boys wanted to display the trophy in my (class)room so everybody got to take a look at that, so that was awesome, but then I had to deliver it to get engraved and it’ll be on display real soon.

The emotional roller coaster didn’t dissuade Marshalltown’s state singles and doubles qualifiers from coming back to work hard this week in preparation of one last team event in Cedar Rapids.

“They transitioned real well from being both excited about how they played and disappointed they didn’t get to continue on as a team,” Christensen said, “to transitioning into individual mode. The five guys going on Friday have been pretty locked in. We’ve had a couple guys — Drake Davis and Gavin Jablonski — who have been awesome in helping us get ready, so we definitely still have that team atmosphere going but the guys are ready to see what they can do.”

MHS senior Nic Price will compete in the singles bracket, where he has received the No. 6 seed and will face off with Grayson Zylstra of Cedar Rapids Washington. Price, who posted a 11-2 singles record this season, is Marshalltown’s first state singles qualifier since Ryan Shomo went as a solo act in 2013.

Price played some of his best tennis of the season, he said, in the Bobcats’ state duals loss to Valley, and Christensen is ready to see what that means for Price in what might be his last competitive event.

“He’s added little bits and pieces with his placement and pattern,” Christensen said. “He’s thinking a shot ahead. In the past he thought about that one shot and doing as much as he can with it, but once you start thinking about what your true goal with that shot is and what that’s going to set up next, you get a better feel for the patterns of tennis and how to construct a point.”

Price was the only Bobcat who got to play in the same distinction during the district and state duals as he will be playing this weekend in Cedar Rapids. Marshalltown’s No. 1 doubles tandem of brothers Kevin and Jason Strand, and the No. 2 doubles team of Ethan Benscoter and Nile Christensen never made it to the court during the first-to-five dual-team format of the postseason.

The Strands both said they’ve been working hard on improving their doubles play together after entering the season, admittedly, as singles players.

“I think me and Jason playing as teammates was kind of a big thing for the team,” said Kevin, a junior. “I definitely brought up the idea of playing singles, but it worked out fine. It’s one of those things where you accept it and I’m happy with the outcome. One-hundred percent it was worth it.”

Had the Strands both played singles at the district meet on May 12 at Johnston, the Bobcats might have had a harder time capturing the team title by sacrificing some of their scoring opportunities. Instead, Price took runner-up in singles and Marshalltown dominated the doubles bracket to get three-fourths of their singles and doubles entrants to state while also earning a first-round bye in the district duals.

With the state team trophy sitting in the Roundhouse to verify the lineup decisions, Marshalltown sets out today to try and add to the medal haul.

“I do cross country too and I remember Conner Smith was the only one to qualify for state, so he had to practice alone,” said Jason, a sophomore. “Here we are with the whole team acting like normal practice, just working harder. It’s a really nice turnout that we got so many people to go to state and we like our chances with what we’ve been doing recently. But having the whole team supporting each other really means a lot.”

The Strands start by facing Ayden Fletcher and Sai Rayasam from Waukee in the first round today.

Benscoter, a senior, and Christensen, a sophomore, open up with Mason City’s James Matthews and Caden Rodning.

“It’s incredible,” coach Christensen said. “I pinch myself every once in a while realizing that we’re sending five down there. Everytime in the past that we’ve been to state it’s been a singles player or a doubles team and you can devote your whole attention to that one squad or one guy. Getting them ready (for state) has been a little bit more challenging because we’ve got more people to get ready and they all have different needs.

“This week I think they’ve been enjoying the process. They definitely have not slacked off any.”