Marshalltown Bobcats

With no shortage of quality teams at the Marshalltown Court Complex, Marshalltown’s Isaac Benscoter and Jacob Thiessen emerged as district runners-up and state qualifiers.

They will represent the Bobcats at the Class 2A singles/doubles tournament in Iowa City on May 21-22.

“I’m stoked,” said Thiessen, a senior. “This is my first time at the state tournament and we haven’t been expected to do much all year, so we’re just looking to do as best as we can once we get to state.”

The morning started with coaches unable to reach a decision on whether Benscoter and Thiessen or Dowling Catholic’s Brady Frye and Andrew Scott should be the top seed in the doubles bracket.

After two rounds of deadlocked voting, they flipped a coin.

“Friday Night Lights-style,” MHS head coach James Christensen quipped. “Dowling called tails, it came up heads. … I was very pleased with [Marshalltown’s] seed, and I think their body of work this year deserved that, but they ended up having a very difficult road to state.”

It started with a showdown against seniors Anthony Cataldo and Ted Townsend, also from Dowling.

“They were probably one of the top three teams here, in my opinion,” Christensen said.

Benscoter and Thiessen came out on top with a 6-1, 6-3 win to advance to the semifinals.

“I think that gave them a definite confidence boost right away,” Christensen said.

That rolled into their semis matchup with Owen Huneke and Brandon Herrmann of Johnston, who had just knocked off the four-seed from Cedar Rapids Prairie in straight sets in the previous round.

Behind a strong serve from Thiessen and solid all-around play from Benscoter, a junior who will be making his second state appearance later this month, the Bobcat duo punched their ticket to state with a 6-0, 6-4 victory to make the finals.

“[Thiessen’s] serve was huge for us,” Benscoter said. “He’s really able to bomb those serves in and make it difficult for the other people and get us into an advantage right off the point. We can get a really good shot off on them when we’re pushing them back like that. It’s really just our aggressiveness and good serving.”

Thiessen added, “This is the best I’ve served all year, and Isaac was playing some good points and covering a lot of points without me. We’ve been sharing the court really well and working as a team.”

That set up the finals match with Frey and Scott, which Christensen said the Bobcats were anticipating from the beginning of the day.

After dropping the first set, 6-3, the MHS duo forced a deciding third set with a 6-4 win in set two. After playing through numerous deuce points, Frey and Scott were finally able to close the door on Benscoter and Thiessen with a 6-4 win in set three to close out a match that lasted nearly 2 1/2 hours.

“Those two teams are just incredibly even on paper, and it showed on the court, too,” Christensen said. “Both teams came up clutch quite a bit. Even in defeat, I think it made us a better team. Those guys have only played a third set once before and being through that pressure situation, I think it’ll benefit us moving forward.”

Benscoter’s a numbers guy and he knew after last year’s senior class graduated that Thiessen and him would be a lock to play together at No. 1 doubles.

“I think it was just kind of expected,” Benscoter said. “Being able to play doubles together, especially for JT’s senior year, that’s a lot of fun, especially knowing that we get to do it for another two weeks and eventually go to the state tournament.”

Dale Greene was the other Bobcat to reach the semifinal round on Wednesday — he earned the 4-seed but had to rally back to avoid an upset against Micah Christiansen, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.

“Dale played tremendous today,” Christensen said. “A little dinged up coming in but worked it out in that first set and came back with a vengeance.”

Greene had an even taller challenge in the semis against last year’s fourth-place winner at state singles in Anthony Schulte of Cedar Rapids Prairie. The senior got a game off Schulte before the Prairie junior closed out Greene, 6-0, 6-1.

In the consolation match, Greene battled once again, this time against Dowling’s Lucas Clark, but came up short in a 6-3, 7-5 win for Clark.

“Getting a game off Schulte is an achievement in itself,” Christensen said. “He battled real hard with the Dowling No. 3. … If we can win on Saturday [in team substates against Cedar Falls/Des Moines North winner] we’d most likely face Dowling, and we’d like to get another chance at them.”

Marshalltown’s other doubles squad, Carson Snyder and Adam Boone, bowed out in the first round against Prairie’s Michael Day and Jace McDermott, 7-5, 6-2.

“It was a tough draw to begin with, and then it was just a bad day for some poor tennis to crop up for them,” Christensen said. “When you play high-level opponents like Prairie, that puts an end to it. But Carson’s an absolute warrior and Boone’s been in pressure situations all year so kudos to them for battling but it’s tough when you don’t have your best stuff against really good players.”

Jacob Christen was Marshalltown’s other singles entry, quickly defeating Dylan Housley of Des Moines East in straight sets before running into Dowling’s Clark in the quarterfinals.

“He had some good games against Clark but he’s a heck of a player and was seeded for a reason,” Christensen said. “Jacob came off the court in good spirits and knowing he played good tennis and that will bode well for his future.”

The Bobcats now focus in on Saturday’s team substate play. Cedar Falls (8-8) and Des Moines North (2-6) will kick it off at 9 a.m., with the winner taking on Marshalltown later that day.

Christensen said the Bobcats will be ready for either, even if the Tigers are the more likely opponent on Saturday.

“They’re kind of an enigma,” Christensen said of Cedar Falls. “They’ve got some really good players but sometimes they’re in and out of the lineup. You never know exactly what you’re going to get. But we’re just going to play the guys that get off the bus and if we play to the best of our abilities, I think we can walk away with a victory.”