“It’s a tale of two seasons,” Christensen said. “Last year was just an absolute nightmare with not being able to play. Then to back that up with a new facility, sending these five guys and sending seven guys to team state, that’s just incredible. I pinch myself every once in a while to remind myself just how blessed we were to accomplish what we did.”

The Bobcats played indoors Friday as drizzle was present across Western Iowa, with the doubles teams playing at Coe College and Nic Price at the University of Iowa’s indoor courts.

Nic Price started off the day for the Bobcats, playing against Grayson Zylstra of Cedar Rapids Washington. Price lost 6-4, 6-0, dropping into the consolation bracket against Jake Dophin of Pleasant Valley. Christensen said this was an unlucky break for Price, as Dolphin had been consistently a top player in the state throughout the season. The matchup was tough for the Marshalltown senior, and Price’s Bobcat career ended with a 6-2, 6-0 loss and a tie for 13th in the final standings.

Price was one of two Bobcat seniors in action Friday, with Ethan Benscoter playing alongside Nile Christensen in doubles. Seeded eighth, the duo fell in their first match to James Matthew and Caden Rodning of Mason City 6-2, 6-2. This dropped them into the consolation bracket, where after multiple hours of waiting they took the court against Samir Singh and B.J. Wolf of Iowa City West. Singh and Wolf went down 1-0 before taking control of the match, winning 6-1, 6-0, and eliminating Benscoter and Nile.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - Marshalltown High School senior Ethan Benscoter makes a forehand return during Class 2A doubles action at Coe College on Friday in Cedar Rapids.

His high school career over, Benscoter reflected on the senior seasons he and Price had together.

“This is all we could have hoped for, even losing in the first round like we did,” Benscoter said. “Just the experience was worth it, going this far as a team, with the team as friends. I think we’ve had a very successful season with how it went.”

It was a big year for Benscoter, who was also on one of the relays that made state swimming for Marshalltown. Christensen lauded the two seniors for all the growth and improvements they made, advancing from “just a couple of kids who had bought WalMart tennis rackets and tried out for tennis” as freshmen to state qualifiers as seniors.

The last Bobcats standing were the Strand brothers, Kevin and Jason.

Their first match of the day came against Ayden Fletcher and Sai Ravasam of No. 1-ranked Waukee. The match was hotly contested, with emotions getting high at points and the momentum in the match swinging back and forth. Marshalltown won the first set 6-3, but the Waukee duo responded by winning set two 6-2. It went down to a winner-take-all third set. The Strands had a 2-0 lead in the set and had advantage in the deuce but lost the point, which allowed Waukee to build momentum. Fletcher and Ravasam won the set and the match 6-2. It was a tough loss for the Bobcats to take.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

Their next match wasn’t any easier. The third-seeded duo of Sudeep Gadde and Arwind Sivakumar had been upset in the first round by Pleasant Valley’s Mason Alsheika and Gavin Pangan — making the consolation bracket even more difficult to navigate for the Bobcats. The first set was another battle, with Marshalltown up 6-5 and one point away from winning the set. But instead, Linn-Mar came back to take the set 7-6 and then cruise to a 6-1 win in the second set.

Marshalltown was going home without any wins. But Christensen said the experience the Strand brothers and Nile Christensen had in particular on Friday will be key to how the Bobcats come back next season.

“It’s huge, I’ve talked to Ryan Shomo, one of the best players to come through the program before,” Christensen said. “His sophomore year, he came down here and lost two straight matches in doubles. It kinda gave him that taste of ‘Man, I want to be back here and win some matches.’ It really focused him. By the time he was a senior, he was finishing top-six in the state. I told those guys about that, I said ‘This is what it takes.'”

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING