The Marshalltown boys’ tennis team has been able to rely on its strength in numbers.

On Friday morning, the Bobcats simply had to be strong enough, and they were.

Marshalltown turned back a stern challenge from Cedar Rapids Jefferson by sweeping three tightly contested doubles matches for a 7-2 victory at the Marshalltown Court Complex, improving to 4-0 for the season.

Most tennis duals across the state are best-of-nine format, but the Iowa Alliance Conference continues with best-of-11 play. Marshalltown catered to its guest, and Jefferson nearly knocked off the hometown team.

The Bobcats led 4-2 after singles play and needed just one of the three doubles bouts to go their way for the team win, but the visiting J-Hawks weren’t about to submit. Even after Marshalltown won the first set in all three contests, Jefferson appeared determined to force third-set super-tiebreakers in each.

The J-Hawks accomplished that at No. 2 doubles, but the Bobcat duo of Adam Boone and Caleb Rasmussen rose to the challenge and delivered the victory their team needed. It also boosted the other Marshalltown doubles teams to help close out their contests triumphantly.

“Finishing strong is huge for us, especially going into the weekend,” said MHS head coach James Christensen. “It gives us a lot of positive thoughts going into a tough next week with four matches.

“Doubles is I think where we hang our hat oftentimes and I think we showed today that our ceiling there is really high, but we’ve gotta clean up that floor a little bit. It was ugly at times, but the kids battled through the valleys and we were able to come out on top.”

Boone and Rasmussen, who won their opening set 6-2, dropped the second set 6-4 and were trailing in their super-tiebreaker, 9-8.

“It’s a lot more pressure on the top three doubles teams because our 4-5 doubles are pretty good so we don’t ever have to worry about them losing,” said Boone, a senior. “It put a lot more pressure on us to get the job done and we got the outcome we needed.

“It’s always going through my mind, ‘we’ve gotta win this point,’ but we were down 9-8 in the tiebreak and it was like ‘just get this thing over the net and sneak out of here’ and we ended up winning 11-9 and it felt great.”

Not long after Boone and Rasmussen delivered the clinching win over Owen Preston and Maddux Armstrong, Marshalltown finished off the doubles sweep. At No. 3 doubles, Tayven Dutton and Isaac Seberger defeated Nathan Booth and Ryan Panoch, 6-4, 6-4, and the No. 1 doubles team of Isaac Benscoter and Jacob Christen captured an impressive victory over Parker Holland and Keon Lewis, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).

“[Playing best-of-nine] definitely makes every point a little bit more important, and it kind of plays against us,” said Christensen. “Our 4-5 doubles are pretty strong compared to other teams so everybody knew going into doubles we didn’t have that buffer. We needed one of those three and having the super-tiebreaker being the first one to take us home with Boone and Caleb was pretty sweet.

“It’s pretty tense but it’s something we practice a lot of. We play a lot of games in practice that simulate pressure and I think the kids respond well to it.”

Marshalltown earned its 4-2 lead through singles play with straight-set wins from Boone, Rasmussen, Jacob Christen and Kyle Smith. Boone beat Lewis 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2, Rasmussen topped Preston 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3, and Christen finished off Armstrong at No. 4, 6-1, 6-4. Smith scored a 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 6 over Panoch to put the Bobcats in position to win with just one doubles triumph, but that was far from a straightforward task.

“Those Cedar Rapids schools are all pretty good so it’s good to get a different look of what they have over there from what we have in the Iowa Alliance,” said Boone. “We really did what we needed to do today and came in here and won. It feels good that was the outcome. It was a little rough at points but you’ve just gotta get it done and we did.”

It’s Marshalltown’s third win over Cedar Rapids Jefferson in as many years, but Christensen says it’s always a battle no matter what the final tally reads.

“We’ve got them each year, but it’s always competitive matches,” he said.

Jefferson’s day didn’t end with the loss to the Bobcats, though. The J-Hawks drove on to Ankeny and edged out the Hawks, 5-4, to improve to 2-1 this season.

The Bobcats’ busy week ahead begins with Monday’s road trip to Fort Dodge and Tuesday’s make-up dual at home against Class 1A No. 5 Waverly-Shell Rock. Marshalltown hosts Ottumwa, Des Moines Lincoln and Mason City next Thursday for a double dual.

Marshalltown 7, Cedar Rapids Jefferson 2

SINGLES

Parker Holland (CRJ) def. Isaac Benscoter, 6-1, 6-0

Adam Boone (MHS) def. Keon Lewis, 6-2, 6-3

Caleb Rasmussen (MHS) def. Owen Preston, 6-2, 6-3

Jacob Christen (MHS) def. Maddux Armstrong, 6-1, 6-4

Nathan Booth (CRJ) def. Elliot Kodis, 6-4, 6-4

Kyle Smith (MHS) def. Ryan Panoch, 6-2, 6-3

DOUBLES

Benscoter and Christen (MHS) def. Holland and Lewis, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)

Boone and Rasmussen (MHS) def. Preston and Armstrong, 6-2, 4-6, (11-9)

Tayven Dutton and Isaac Seberger (MHS) def. Booth and Panoch, 6-4, 6-4