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Susan Harman

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Mother Nature was one of the stars as City High and West High presented their annual girl/boy tennis doubleheader at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Center courts Tuesday.

While West High easily won the boys and girls meets, as expected, the sunny 70-degree weather was tonic to players and spectators alike.

The No. 1 girls tennis match between West High junior Jessica Moonjely and City High junior Carolyn Carter was indicative of some of the hidden gems in a meet that was lopsided (9-0 boys, 8-1 girls) in the final tally.

It was competitive throughout, featuring long rallies by the two baseliners, neither of whom gave an inch.

Baseliners have to have a certain level of concentration and grit to hang in there during long points.

“That’s kind of my game plan,” Moonjely said. “I like to stay at the baseline and just ground it out. It takes a lot of determination and focus, but that’s just how I like to play.

“My goal is really to keep it deep with a good pace and keep them moving side to side.”

Carter, who has the same style, doesn’t change when her opponent is her mirror image.

“I just have to concentrate on getting it back in play and being consistent and consistently getting it in especially from the baseline,” Carter said. “I’m most definitely trying to move the person around because that gives me more control over the court. So I try to get her to move back and forth and hit different consistencies of balls and try to get her to run around.”

Both players’ serves are adequate but not particularly powerful.

“Serving probably isn’t the strongest part of my game, but I didn’t serve any double faults today,” Moonjely said. “Just try to keep it in, and placement is a big part of it.”

Carter did have some double faults.

“I had a lot more errors tonight than I should have,” she said. “But overall I was pretty consistent in getting the first or second serve in.”

“The games within the game, the points were really close,” Moonjely said. “But I just think I was able to hit more balls in the court than she was. I think that was the big difference.

“My endurance is a big part of my game. I just tell myself to get every ball back; that’s really how I play. I’m not the strongest player on the court, so …”

Carter was convinced.

 “I felt like she got every ball I tried to hit to her,” Carter said. “She’s athletic and definitely had more heart to be consistent continuously.”

The final verdict was Moonjely 6-0, 6-1.

Moonjely took over the No. 1 spot for the Women of Troy over sophomore Audrey Koch, who teamed with sister Emma a year ago to win the state doubles title on these same courts.

 “It could be a lot of pressure,” she said. “Last year I played three and previously, in my freshman year, I played four. So yeah, I’m not used to playing one because usually the Kochs are ahead. But this year I was able to beat Audrey, and I’m really glad I’m at the one spot. It’s a big responsibility, but it challenges me to be better.”

The two combine to form a strong doubles team that won over Carter and Kelsey Law 6-3, 6-1.

“We balance each other out really nicely,” Moonjely said of Koch. “She has a lot of power and she’s really good at the net. Then I’m able to grind it out at the baseline.”

The doubles team of Sarah Dockery Jackson and Sidney Fellow won City High’s only match in the girls meet, 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 over Caroline Chandler and Natalie Katz.

West High improved to 6-0 and City is 2-5.

 

West High, coming off a 9-0 victory over defending state champion Linn-Mar, swept all nine matches in the boys meet to improve its record to 6-0. 

The Trojans have not lost a single individual or doubles match this season.

“It’s a busy week: Linn-Mar Monday, City today, Liberty Thursday and then we go to Dubuque Saturday,” West boys coach Mitch Gross said. “I thought we played well. We’re trying to keep a championship mindset in every single meet.”

The City boys are 0-4 to start the season, but coach Chip Hardesty sees improvement every day.

 “They are getting better almost match to match,” he said. “The results are not there yet. I think we play some teams toward the end of our schedule that are more accessible for us.”

Hardesty offered an example.

“Evan Hansen, who is playing No. 1 for us, started as No. 2,” Hardesty said. “He’s the nicest guy in the world. But because of his size his movement is more difficult for him.

“He’s gotten more consistent. He hit some pretty good balls against Sammy Shin today, and Sammy is one of the top two or three players in the state. He wouldn’t have been able to do that even a month ago.

“He’s got to take those little gradual steps to progress, and that’s what we want.”

Girls

West High 8, City High 1

Singles

1, Jessica Moonjely (ICW) def Carolyn Carter 6-1, 6-0

2. Audrey Koch (ICW) def Abbie McCormick 6-0, 6-2

3. Caroline Mascardo (ICW) def Irene Samuelson 6-1, 6-0

4. Caroline Chandler (ICW) def Sarah Dockery Jackson 6-0, 6-0

5. Vivian Mitchell (ICW) def Evelyn Wolfe 6-2, 6-0

6. Natalie Katz (ICW) def Sonya Liebig 2-6, 6-3 1-0

Doubles

1, Moonjely/Koch (ICW) def. Carter/Kelsey Law 6-3, 6-1

2. Mascardo/Mitchell (ICW) def. McCormick/Samuelson 6-0, 6-0

3. Dockery-Jackson/Sidney Fellow (ICH) def. Chandler/Katz 2-6, 6-3 1-0

Boys

West High 9, City High 0

Singles

1. Sam Shin (ICW) def. Evan Hansen 6-0, 6-1

2. Jack Wenzel (ICW) def. Ethan Snee 6-0, 6-0 

3. Sasha Chakalakal (ICW) def. Jack Motto 6-1, 6-1 

4. Eli Young (ICW) def. Sean Phillips 6-0, 6-0

5. Mukundan Kastararangan (ICW) def. Mal Nye 6-0, 6-0 

6. Luca. Chakalakal (ICW) def. John Nicknish 6-0, 6-0 

Doubles 

1. Kastararangan/Luca Chakalakal (ICW) def. Hansen/Mitto 6-0, 6-0

2. Porto Ortiz/B.J Wolf (ICW) def. Snee/Nye 6-1, 6-0 

3. Doroteo Ortiz/Nicu Curry (ICW) def. Phillips/Anshul Gowda 6-0, 6-2

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