Boone boys tennis off to winning start, girls soccer bounces back

Following a winning season last year, the Boone boys tennis team has started strong once again, getting off to another hot start.

The Toreadors are 6-1 so far in their dual meets, and head coach Jed Hammen said it has been a good start for their younger team in terms of experience.

“Our only loss is to second-ranked Pella, and that was a really competitive meet here,” Hammen said. “And then we were fortunate enough to win our invitational [April 6], which had Ames and North Polk, who is ranked number four right now in 1A.”

That strong start came by way of the offseason, where Hammen said the guys put a lot of time in, adding that collectively, he thinks the top 12 spent about 900 hours together.

Hammen said that time and work has now paid off, as the pieces are coming together for the team, and it is now gaining experience each match to help build confidence as well.

Though all the work in the offseason has helped in the strong start, the Toreadors also returned three of their top six from last season who have also lended themselves to the hot start.

Seniors Joe Jordan, Wesley Baber and Lucas Thompson all moved up in positions to one, two and five, respectively after playing varsity last season as well, and Hammen said they have had their own learning curve this season.

“Every team has at least one really good tennis player so there’s no off nights at number one, so it’s been a little bit of a learning curve,” Hammen said. “But those three guys have returned and their experience is so vital.”

Hammen added that the other four guys who play in the top six are gaining insight and experience from the other three who have played.

That leadership will also help Boone reach its goals, as Hammen said its slogan for the year is “new faces but same expectations.”

The Toreadors have reached the Class 1A Team State meet for seven straight seasons, and their goal this season is to make it eight, while they’re also hoping to have three or four guys qualify for state individually as well.

“Those goals continue to be intact and those kind of just are unique goals that seem to just keep rolling over for our program,” Hammen said. “And so this younger group, even though maybe not as much experience, they still want to embrace the past of our culture of our program, and so far that’s been happening.”

Though Hammen said there’s still lots of tennis to be played, he also said that the team has taken the early steps in the right direction to achieve those goals.

Hammen added that he has 10 guys on the team who also want what’s best for the team and are focused on how they can help the team be successful, which he said is something he’s not had before.

“Sometimes when you have an individual sport that you’re making a team sport that doesn’t always happen because we get caught up in our individual accolades, and this team is all about wanting to do what’s best for the team as a unit,” Hammen said. “And that’s been really fun to be a part of that.”

Girls soccer bounces back

The Boone girls soccer team picked up its second win of the season after rebounding from a loss last week.

The Toreadors opened their week against North Polk on April 8, dropping 5-0.

Senior goalkeeper Taylor Beck had 31 saves in the loss, however it wasn’t enough to hold off the undefeated Comets.

Boone was able to bounce back against Ballard on April 10, however, winning 3-0.

Sophomore Delaney Good led the way, scoring twice in the win. Beck also had a good night, saving 13 shots to keep a clean sheet.