Monday’s home meet was a reward for the hard-working members of the Marshalltown boys’ tennis team who rarely get the opportunity to play varsity.

Today’s dual will be a true test for those who do.

The Class 2A No. 6 Bobcats breezed through an Iowa Alliance Conference matchup with Des Moines East, beating the Scarlets 11-0 on a breezy but beautiful Monday at the Marshalltown Court Complex.

When 1A No. 1 Pella arrives on Tuesday, the Bobcats’ lineup will look nothing like it did a day earlier.

“Tonight was all about getting some guys some experience, rewarding some of those hard workers in practice,” said MHS head coach James Christensen. “We haven’t had a lot of opportunities to have JV matches this year so to get some of those guys a competitive, meaningful match was fantastic. It also allowed some of our top guys to get some rest before the big matchup tomorrow.”

Only three Bobcats with regular amounts of varsity experience found a spot in Monday’s lineup. Marshalltown (5-1) dug into its roster and still rolled past Des Moines East (0-5). The Scarlets scored just five games as MHS won each match in straight sets — six of them in love-love fashion.

“They were all real excited,” Christensen said. “We held a little bit of an intrasquad playoff for some of those last positions so it was really competitive and everybody wanted that chance to be out there.”

Jacob Thiessen was the only singles player who had previous varsity experience in the top-six, and he blew through Matthew Mila in a 6-0, 6-0 sweep at No. 1. Cael Sandvick, Dale Greene, Carson Snyder, Jaxson Eisenbarth and Collin Jablonski also scored straight-set victories, with Sandvick, Greene and Eisenbarth all winning love-love.

“Collin Jablonski was kind of a late add situation as we decided to hold (No. 1 singles player) Jason Strand out tonight,” Christensen said. “Collin got the call last night and said ‘yeah, I’m ready for sure’ and then he got out there today and was like ‘I’m not sure if I’m ready or not.’ But he calmed down after the first couple shots and played a real good match and he was able to come out with his first victory.

“It’s awesome. Being able to play and win a match for your team that counts and is going to show up in the paper and show up on Varsity Bound, you can tell your friends ‘I’m a real part of this team and I contributed to a victory.’ It feels good to get everybody that opportunity because we can.”

Drew Loney and Isaac Benscoter assumed the top doubles position for Marshalltown and the only Bobcat tandem with varsity experience cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 triumph over Mila and Dan Pham.

Jacob Christen and Adam Boone got a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Sam Wagner and Eddie Hamann at No. 2 doubles, while Kaden Ricken and Will Swartz prevailed 6-1, 6-0 over Dexter Clark and Christopher Ramirez-Chavez at No. 3.

Tayven Dutton and Adrian Gonzalez-Zorzano scored a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 4 over J’Ceon Miller and Saha Htoo, and Roan Jelken and Isaac Seberger closed out the dual meet with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep of Andy Decker and Eh Baw Moo at No. 5, 6-0, 6-0.

Tuesday’s showdown with top-ranked Pella will be a decidedly different experience.

“We’ve got to show up ready to play tomorrow,” said Christensen. “They’re a tough team with five of six guys back from a state runner-up so we’ll have our work cut out for us.

“When coach (Josiah) Brandt said we could maybe fill in both of our lost matches with a matchup here, it was an easy ‘yes.’ It’s just another competitive match where we know we’re going to get 11 really hard-fought matches. You can’t say no to that.”

Marshalltown 11, Des Moines East 0

SINGLES

Jacob Thiessen (MHS) def. Matthew MIla, 6-0, 6-0

Cael Sandvick (MHS) def. Sam Wagner, 6-0, 6-0

Dale Greene (MHS) def. Dan Pham, 6-0, 6-0

Carson Snyder (MHS) def. Dexter Clark, 6-1, 6-0

Jaxson Eisenbarth (MHS) def. Keegan Beattie-Cerveny, 6-0, 6-0

Collin Jablonski (MHS) def. Eddie Hamann, 6-2, 6-0

DOUBLES

Drew Loney and Isaac Benscoter (MHS) def. Mila and Pham, 6-1, 6-0

Jacob Christen and Adam Boone (MHS) def. Wagner and Hamann, 6-0, 6-0

Kaden Ricken and Will Swartz (MHS) def. Clark and Christopher Ramirez-Chavez, 6-1, 6-0

Tayven Dutton and Adrian Gonzalez-Zorzano (MHS) def. J’Ceon Miller and Saha Htoo, 6-1, 6-0

Roan Jelken and Isaac Seberger (MHS) def. Andy Decker and Eh Baw Moo, 6-0, 6-0