After a 30-minute delay to dry out wet courts, MHS only needed an hour to dispatch Des Moines East, 5-0, in a Class 2A Region 3 first-round matchup at the Marshalltown Court Complex on Friday morning.

The Bobcats advance to take on Dubuque Hempstead at next Tuesday’s regional semifinals at Iowa City Liberty High School. The winner will take on either Iowa City Liberty or Cedar Rapids Washington later in the day to determine the regional champion.

Marshalltown’s No. 2 through No. 6 singles defeated their East opponents in straight sets to end the matchup early.

“It wasn’t windy for once, so that kinda bothered us,” MHS head coach John Fiscus joked. “But we just competed and went out there and got some wins right away for our side.”

Friday was the final home meet for the four seniors in the varsity lineup – Rebekah Downs, Claire Bohan, Halie Hohnstein and Ava Lucas. Bohan, Hohnstein and Lucas won their matches with only one game dropped between the three of them and Downs was on the comeback trail against East’s No. 1 Tabitha Hochmuth after dropping the first set before the meet was called.

“We’re carrying off our momentum from the regular season and just bringing that into the postseason,” Lucas said. “We came in and got it done.”

There’s more tennis to be played elsewhere, but the seniors will hold fond memories of home court.

“I don’t think it’s set in yet, maybe later tonight,” Lucas said. “But the team’s always been the best part. Even when I was younger, the team had such a good spirit, and it always made me want to play, get better, and always be here. I’ll miss that team factor, absolutely.”

Fiscus expects a much closer matchup with Hempstead.

“From what I’ve been reading, we’re favored to win, so hopefully we can answer that,” Fiscus said. “We just want to take it one round at a time. It’ll be a good battle, a good matchup for us.”