It had been a year since the Marshalltown boys’ tennis team suffered defeat, let alone a lopsided loss.

Whether by one match or 11, this setback will smart for a bit.

Marshalltown head coach James Christensen hopes the pain will linger only long enough to motivate his Bobcats in preparation for the postseason. Thursday’s 9-2 loss to Ames in a dual that determined the Iowa Alliance Conference championship had been circled on Marshalltown’s calendar for quite some time, but the Bobcats (13-1, 8-1) will have to cross it off quickly.

The postseason arrives next Wednesday.

“I hope so, I hope that stings tonight,” Christensen said. “I’m gonna be up late tonight probably thinking about it, but ultimately, regardless of the outcome today, we have a lot to play for next week on Wednesday and Saturday.

“By all means we’re going to take 16 hours to process this, but about 4 o’clock [Friday] we’ll be ready to enter the correction mode and figure out what we can do to prevent this from happening again.”

In the showdown for the Alliance crown, Ames (10-2, 9-0) took a strong first step. The Little Cyclones won the first set in five of six singles contests and eventually claimed just as many, pulling to within one doubles win of the victory after the first wave of play.

MHS junior Caleb Rasmussen stood alone with his singles victory, but he had to survive a three-set thriller to do it. He outlasted Anirudh Manimaran 6-2, 4-6, (12-10), to improve to 11-0 at No. 3 singles and 12-0 overall this spring, never losing a set.

“Caleb Rasmussen was like normal, an absolute dog today,” Christensen said. “He had a very tough opponent and had him frustrated early on like only Caleb can do. “He’s just such a cool customer. He asked a couple really good questions and had a good strategy for the super tiebreaker, executed it really well, and he kept us alive.

“Without that victory there, we were dead in the water after singles. Him giving us hope was huge.”

Clinging to life, however, wasn’t where the Bobcats expected to be. Ames capitalized, winning four of the five doubles bouts to puncuate the regular-season finale.

The Little Cyclones won three of four set tiebreakers or super tiebreakers, proving their mettle in the most pivotal points.

“All credit goes to Ames tonight,” Christensen said. “They played really well. They were tougher than we were on those clutch points and that’s something we try and build all year. We just came up a little bit short.

“Our guys were in great positions, the ball was on our racket, but we just didn’t finish.”

Christensen called the Bobcats’ three-set loss at No. 3 doubles a microcosm of the match, pointing to four match points Marshalltown was unable to capture in an eventual three-set loss.

Jacob Christen and Kyle Smith battled to the end, but it was Wyatt Jones and Grant Phillips emerging with the 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), (10-6) triumph.

The No. 5 doubles pairing of Evan Roush and Will Swartz won its first set against Calder Shogren-Knaak and Chris Opheim, but the Ames duo countered for the 3-6, 6-4, (11-9) win.

Marshalltown’s lone doubles victory came from Tayven Dutton and Isaac Seberger at No. 4, as they fought back for the 3-6, 6-4, (10-6) win over Jonas Bernard and Quin O’Bryan.

“We got to the 1-yard-line tonight, but we just didn’t put it in,” Christensen said. “It’s tough to comprehend how we didn’t win a few of those matches, honestly.”

The Bobcats will get a chance to bounce back, both in team play and in singles and doubles. Marshalltown hosts its Class 2A district singles and doubles tournament on Wednesday, and the Bobcats will entertain for the first round of team substate play on Saturday, May 17.

MHS has advanced at least one singles player or doubles team to state each of the previous four seasons.

“We had this (Ames match) circled for a long time,” Christensen said. “We knew this was going to be the showdown for the conference championship, and to have it on the last day of the regular season was special. You could tell Ames was amped up for it, and I know we were amped up for it. It’s going to hurt our guys, especially the seniors, knowing that they were just a couple points away from walking out of here with a 14-0 record.

“We’ll be at home Wednesday and Saturday, and that’s a good thing. Everybody’s gonna have to come here and we’ll have to defend our spot.”

Ames 9, Marshalltown 2

SINGLES

Ethan Wang (A) def. Isaac Benscoter, 6-2, 6-2

Anson Bernard (A) def. Adam Boone, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3

Caleb Rasmussen (MHS) def. Anirudh Manimaran, 6-2, 4-6, (12-10)

Oliver Fields (A) def. Jacob Christen, 6-4, 6-2

Wyatt Jones (A) def. Elliot Kodis, 6-2, 6-3

Grant Phillips (A) def. Kyle Smith, 6-1, 7-5

DOUBLES

Wang and A. Bernard (A) def. Boone and Rasmussen, 6-4, 6-2

Manimaran and Fields (A) def. Benscoter and Kodis, 6-2, 6-3

Jones and Phillips (A) def. Christen and Smith, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), (10-6)

Tayven Dutton and Isaac Seberger (MHS) def. Jonas Bernard and Quin O’Bryan, 3-6, 6-4, (10-6)

Calder Shogren-Knaak and Chris Opheim (A) def. Evan Roush and Will Swartz, 3-6, 6-4, (11-9)