April 18, 2025

Cardinal girls deck DM North

By Jocelyn Sheets
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Making the return shot is Newton High senior Marisa Modlin in a No. 2 singles match at home Tuesday against Des Moines North. Modlin won the match as the Cardinals went 11-0 on Senior Day. (Jocelyn Sheets)

One shot. Newton High’s girls had one shot to have a successful home tennis meet in 2015.

They got it right on Senior Day Tuesday. The Cardinals swept the varsity matches, 11-0, against visiting Des Moines North’s Polar Bears.

Newton also went 6-1 in junior varsity doubles play.

Newton recognized its six seniors — McKenna Heisdorffer, Marisa Modlin, Melanie Stice, Brenda Becerra, Arianna Jamieson and GiGi Chen. Five of those seniors helped win varsity matches.

The Cardinal varsity singles players dropped only five games in six matches. They gave up just eight games in the five doubles matches.

Heisdorffer dominated at No. 1 singles for Newton with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Valeria Guerra. Modlin rolled to a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Selana Bounthakhamphong. Hesidorffer and Modlin teamed up for a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 1 doubles over Guerra and Bounthakhamphong.

Sophomore Megan Pressgrove overpowered North senior Megan Russell, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 3 singles. Junior Sierra Griffith did the same — 6-0, 6-0 — against Megan Bohall in the No. 4 singles match.

Newton’s Kate Wyre, a junior, netted a 6-1, 6-0 decision over Mikalen Sellers at No. 5 singles. In the No. 6 singles match, sophomore Katherine Thorpe defeated Ayanna Dixon, 6-1, 6-1.

Pressgrove and junior Madison Humphrey put up a 6-1, 6-1 win over Russell and Bohall in the No. 2 doubles match for the Cardinals. Wyre and Griffith combined for a 6-0, 6-1 decision as Newton’s No. 3 doubles team over North’s Sellers and Dixon.

Stice and junior Elizabeth Myers posted a 6-1, 6-0 win for Newton over Nina Soe and Cherry Tran at No. 4 doubles. Newton’s No. 5 doubles team had seniors Jamieson and Becerra winning 6-1, 6-0 over Esther Obas and Lelasha Lovan.

Chen plays junior varsity for the Cardinals. She and Ali Bestell lost 6-3 to Sellers and Dixon.

Newton won the other junior varsity doubles matches: Thorpe and Kinzie Loree beat Guerra and Bounthakamphong, 7-6; Bethany Baumgartner and Natalie Camp beat Russell and Bohall, 6-2; Stacie Sanger and Isabella Leach beat Soe and Tran, 6-1; Rylie Bakalar and Morgan Modlin beat Obas and Lovan, 6-2; Maddie Gooding-Hunt and Echo Downs beat Stephanie Ramos and Ann Thevambounmy, 7-5; Hayley Sinclair and Haley Walton beat Ramos and Thevambounmy, 6-1.

Newton (4-3) travels to Boone Thursday.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com