Voices raised, tempers flared and mediators were called upon to help settle differences.

After nearly four hours of competitive play, the Marshalltown boys’ tennis team stood victorious.

The Bobcats rebuffed Des Moines Roosevelt’s raucous challenge on Tuesday evening at the Marshalltown Court Complex, prevailing 7-4 despite an early deficit through doubles play.

Roosevelt (3-2) captured three of the five doubles bouts to start the Iowa Alliance Conference battle, including an intense three-setter at the No. 1 position. Marshalltown seniors Caleb Rasmussen and Kyle Smith rallied to force a deciding third set in a contentious top pairing before falling to Vihaan Koganti and Graham Roecker by a score of 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), (10-8).

The absence of junior Jacob Seberger from the Bobcat lineup led to a toggled roster that started on its heels. With its first real taste of competition, Marshalltown (6-0) got pushed before finally pushing back.

“Yeah, we certainly got punched in the mouth in doubles,” said MHS head coach James Christensen. “We probably weren’t ready for the moment, which is on me. It’s tough to simulate true competition in practice, but I’ve got to do a better job of getting them ready for that level of play.

“But I think we responded really well.”

Marshalltown’s scheduled match against Class 1A No. 5 Waverly-Shell Rock on Friday was washed out, so the Bobcats’ first real test was postponed. Des Moines Roosevelt filled that void with verve and vigor.

The Roughriders made it hard on Marshalltown’s adjusted lineup with an uncharacteristic one of its own. Roosevelt’s No. 3 singles player Danny Doan played No. 5 doubles, but the strategy backfired as Doan ended up with a pair of losses.

Marshalltown got doubles wins at Nos. 2 and 5. Elliot Kodis and Evan Roush rolled to a 6-4, 6-0 triumph at No. 2, while Ronan Ham and Micah Goodwin got a hard-fought 6-4, 5-7, (12-10) victory over Doan and Alex Zeff at No. 5.

Trailing 3-2 after doubles, Marshalltown made its comeback march immediately in singles.

Doan got overwhelmed by Smith at No. 3, 6-0, 6-1, and Kodis breezed through Malcolm Draper 6-0, 6-0, at No. 2. Roush racked up a 6-3, 6-3 victory at No. 4, and the Bobcats were suddenly in front 5-3.

It was going to take one more singles win for MHS, but Christensen wasn’t sure where it was going to come from.

“Yesterday we put ourselves into tough situations during matches,” Christensen said. “Every service game we started out love-30 and just tried to dig out of it every single time. I think that honestly helped out a couple times.

“Parker Christen, for one, was a guy who got into a hole early in a game and was patient, didn’t try and win the whole game with one shot. He slowly dug himself out point by point and wasn’t throwing away shots — that is how you win.”

Christen fell behind early against Elliot Eckhoff, but it didn’t last as Christen came back for a 6-3, 6-3 triumph. Aaron Hunter added a 7-5, 6-3 win at No. 6, lifting the Bobcats to the dual victory.

“I thought (assistant) coach (Thad) Lents had some really good strategy points for them, especially in Parker’s match,” Christensen said. “Parker was super-coachable and took those to heart. Same with Aaron, and they really executed on those and were able to turn the tide pretty quickly.”

Christensen was enthused with how his squad proved its mettle in the moment.

“They showed a lot of heart,” he said. “They didn’t look shell-shocked. They didn’t look like they were going to shy away from the moment. They honestly looked like they were ready to get out there.

“Especially Kyle — he hates losing, and I love that about him. He was upset he didn’t get to play one of the guys he played in doubles, and Danny Doan from Roosevelt was the unlucky recipient of an upset Kyle Smith. That match was pretty quick.”

Next up for MHS is another home-court contest on Monday as Southeast Polk visits for a non-conference dual. Christensen said practices leading up to another busy week will be as eye-opening as Tuesday’s back-and-forth battle with Roosevelt.

“Like I told the guys afterwards, this exposes so much that is easily ignored after a 6-0, 6-0 win,” he said. “So we’ve got a lot of stuff to work on. These practices are probably going to be the most important practices that we have this year of fixing some things in anticipation of our competition next week.”

Marshalltown 7, Des Moines Roosevelt 4

SINGLES

Vihaan Koganti (DMR) def. Caleb Rasmussen, 6-4, 6-3

Elliot Kodis (MHS) def. Malcolm Draper, 6-0, 6-0

Kyle Smith (MHS) def. Danny Doan, 6-0, 6-1

Evan Roush (MHS) def. Lincoln Kruse, 6-3, 6-2

Parker Christen (MHS) def. Elliot Eckhoff, 6-3, 6-3

Aaron Hunter (MHS) def. Finn Stagner, 7-5, 6-3

DOUBLES

Koganti and Graham Roecker (DMR) def. Rasmussen and Smith, 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), (10-8)

Kodis and Roush (MHS) def. Draper and Nicholas Jordan, 6-4, 6-0

Eckhoff and Stagner (DMR) def. Christen and Hunter, 6-4, 1-6, (10-7)

Kruse and Frank Ulrickson (DMR) def. Jacob Hayes and Ben Wirin, 7-5, 6-4

Ronan Ham and Micah Goodwin (MHS) def. Doan and Alexander Zeff, 6-4, 5-7, (12-10)