The district draw was ominous and the resultant tennis was awesome, but none of the Bobcats are moving on.

The Marshalltown boys’ tennis team was held without a state qualifier for the first time since 2019 after Wednesday’s warm and windy Class 2A district singles and doubles tournament at the Marshalltown Court Complex.

The announcement of teams attending Marshalltown’s district meant the Bobcats were going to have to put on a prolific performance in front of their hometown fans, but the competition was just out of their reach on this day.

Cedar Rapids Prairie brothers Anthony and Dylan Schulte met in the singles bracket finals, while two Cedar Rapids Washington doubles teams took the top spots to earn qualification for the 2A state singles and doubles tournament on May 27-28 in Iowa City.

Simply seeing No. 2 Cedar Rapids Prairie and No. 6 Cedar Rapids Washington meant trouble for the 10th-ranked Bobcats, and the play on the courts Wednesday supported that feeling.

Marshalltown’s two singles players and two doubles teams took aim but couldn’t hit the target of advancing past the semifinals and into the state meet, even one Bobcat who had done it twice before.

MHS senior Isaac Benscoter and classmate Adam Boone paired up to earn the No. 2 seed in the district doubles bracket, but they were ousted in semifinals by eventual champions Luke Burkamper and Bjorn White of Cedar Rapids Washington, 6-3, 6-1.

Burkamper and White beat their teammates and top seeds Brock Davis and Preston Haefner in a three-set grinder, 2-6, 7-6, (10-5), for the district title, while Benscoter and Boone fell 0-6, 6-3, (10-5) to Jack Kehoe and Brooks Arnold of Des Moines Roosevelt in the third-place match.

Only the top two singles players and doubles teams advance to state from each district, but the third-place match determines an alternate in the event one of the qualifiers is unable to compete at state.

Benscoter, who went to state doubles as a junior with Jacob Thiessen and as a sophomore with Drew Loney, said he and Boone were good enough to play at state. The daunting district draw made getting there the real challenge.

“I was definitely not as thrilled (with the district) as I hoped to be, but I was as confident as I could be,” Benscoter said. “I went in expecting us to play well and I think we played pretty well. This is definitely the hardest district I’ve been in in my time playing here and I think Boone and I were one of the best district doubles teams I’ve been a part of.

“I think in pretty much any other district we probably would have made it so it’s a little disappointing, but it doesn’t hurt that much knowing we’ve still got more tennis to play.”

Marshalltown can turn its sole focus to the team substates, which begin Saturday at the Marshalltown Court Complex. At approximately noon, the Bobcats will face the winner of the first-round match between Mason City and Cedar Rapids Kennedy, which starts at 9 a.m.

Saturday’s victor advances to the substate finals on Wednesday, May 21, at a site yet to be determined. Seventh-ranked Linn-Mar is the top seed in the substate.

“Team substate looks good, I’m really excited for that,” Benscoter said. “That’s what I’m focused on right now.”

Marshalltown head coach James Christensen said his team turned the page quickly after Wednesday’s individual district tournament finished. Without a state meet berth, it was the only alternative.

Caleb Rasmussen and Elliot Kodis were unable to advance in singles, while the doubles team of Jacob Christen and Kyle Smith scored a first-round win before falling to one of the Washington pairs in the quarterfinals.

“We knew coming into today this was a tough district,” Christensen said. “We knew we were going to have to play our best tennis in order to advance out of here, and we had that best tennis at times, but that level of focus that we needed wasn’t there all day.

“If you take your eye off the ball against these guys for one second, it can get out of hand pretty quickly.”

Benscoter and Boone beat their quarterfinal foes from Cedar Rapids Prairie in a three-set showdown, topping Chase Beightler and Brandon Smith 5-7, 6-2, (10-2). The second-seeded Bobcat duo advanced to the semifinals, falling to Burkamper and White.

“We definitely had a chance,” Christensen said. “That Washington team is really, really good, and there was times we grinded through a few games, but overall they just had better tennis than we did today.

“Their lows were higher than our lows and their highs were higher than our highs, so that’s tough to compete with.”

Christen and Smith steamed through their first-round match, beating Indianola’s Zach Rothchild and Reid Jackson 6-1, 6-2, before being bounced by Washington’s top-seeded Davis and Haefner in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-1.

“Jacob and Kyle played really well,” Christensen said. “They gave that 1-seed all they wanted in the first set. If they play like that against pretty much any No. 3 doubles teams in the state, they’re going to come out with the victory.”

The singles tournament turned out to be a family affair as Anthony Schulte, a senior and two-time state medalist, defeated his freshman brother Dylan in the finals, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. It was the first loss for either Schulte in singles play this season.

Rasmussen won his quarterfinal match in convincing fashion, beating Washington’s Isaac Sparboe 6-1, 6-1. Dylan Schulte defeated Rasmussen in the semifinals, 6-0, 6-0, to send Rasmussen into the third-place match, where Washington’s Leo Weldon won a three-set grinder, 6-3, 4-6, (10-5).

“It was just kind of exciting to play someone of that level, see how you do,” Rasmussen said of the loss to Schulte. “I just wanted to play good against him and just to be able to play him. You’re not going to win, but just playing him was exciting, but it went as expected.”

Christensen was a bit more enthused bout Rasmussen’s performance despite the final outcome.

“He played so well, he was absolutely deserving of the 3-seed today,” Christensen said. “He came into today undefeated and won his first match pretty quickly. Going up against Dylan, he played really well. Dylan came and talked to us afterwards and said he hadn’t been made to play like that in a long time, so being able to take one of the top five guys in the state and get them out of their comfort zone is great.

“Caleb had multiple opportunities to win games and just couldn’t string enough points together to get on the scoreboard, but that was a valiant performance.”

Despite being denied a spot at state singles or doubles, the Bobcats (13-1) had already locked in for Saturday’s substate round before they left the courts Wednesday.

“I’d rather have the team do well and me not do well individually than the other way around,” Benscoter said. “Especially this is my senior year. I’ve been a part of a lot of really good Marshalltown teams, so obviously that would be a lot of fun and it’d be really nice to continue.”

The Bobcats were state team qualifiers in 2021, 2022 and 2023 before falling to Cedar Falls in last year’s substate semifinals.