OTTUMWA — Alan Paris is the first to admit Ottumwa was certainly better for having played a team like Fairfield Maharishi (MSAE) on Monday.

That didn’t change the fact that Ottumwa took a loss to the Pioneers. That’s one thing the Bulldog boys tennis team doesn’t like to do.

That’s something Des Moines Hoover found out the hard way on Tuesday night at Dan Staggs Courts. In one of their quickest meets of the year, the Bulldogs got back to dominance in CIML Metro play with a 9-2 win over the Huskies.

“It was pretty quick considering how long we battled with MSAE on Monday,” Paris said. “This one was completely different in terms of competition, but the kids played well in both cases.

“They learned a lot from Monday. Any time you play tough competition, you learn and play better.”

The Bulldogs had few stumbling blocks on the way to another Metro win, establishing the tone early on. C.J. Ray, Nick Sedore and Jacob Gardner each scored sweeps while dropping only one game in each of their singles matches while Steve Ray added a 6-2, 6-0 sweep over Matt Androf in the No. 2 singles contest.

Sedore and Gardner also helped set a dominant tone in doubles play, joining teammates Mitch Buller and Isaac Goodman in dropping just two games for a pair of sweeps to help clinch the Bulldogs third straight conference win.

“We’ve only got two more conference matches left, so things are really looking good for us from that aspect,” Paris said.

There were few negatives about Tuesday’s win for the Bulldogs. One negative, however, was a second straight three-set loss for the top Ottumwa doubles team of C.J. Ray and Sam Kramer, who fell to Hoover’s Anthony Kaiser and Andorf 4-6, 6-2, 10-4 just one night after losing a thrilling three-set battle of state hopefuls against MSAE’s Thomas Weiss and Sam Stickles.

“It was a little bit of a letdown. I know C.J. was psyched up to play that doubles match last night. He wasn’t nearly as psyched up for (Tuesday’s) match,” Paris said.

A week of home-court action will continue for Ottumwa (5-4, 3-0) on Thursday against Des Moines at 4:15 p.m. The Bullsogs will look to clinch a share of a second straight CIML Metro title with a win. Ottumwa will also host its own invitational on Saturday, which will include MSAE returning to the River City looking to test Paris’ squad again.

“We like the playing the tough teams that can ultimately make us better,” Paris said. “It’s all about preparing us for districts. We’ll be facing a lot of very talented teams at that point.”

OTTUMWA 9, DES MOINES HOOVER 2

Singles

No. 1 — C.J. Ray (Ottumwa) def. Anthony Kaiser (Hoover) 6-1, 6-0. No. 2 — Steve Ray (O) def. Matt Andorf (DMH) 6-2, 6-1. No. 3 — Jared Bohlmann (O) def. Cole Klever (DMH) 4-6, 6-3, 10-8. No. 4 — Cameron Jacobus (DMH) def. Seth White (O) 7-5, 6-4. No. 5 — Nick Sedore (O) def. Josh Joy (DMH) 6-0, 6-1. No. 6 — Jacob Gardner (O) def. Grant Johnson (DMH) 6-1, 6-0.

Doubles

No. 1 — Kaiser and Andorf (DMH) def. C. Ray and Sam Kramer (O) 4-6, 6-2, 10-4. No. 2 — S. Ray and Bohlmann (O) def. Klever and Jacobus (DMH) 6-2, 6-2. No. 3 — White and Sedore (O) def. Joy and Johnson (DMH) 6-2, 6-0. No. 4 — Gardner and Alec Maas (O) def. Max Lindstrom and Matt Schwartz (DMH) 6-1, 6-2. No. 5 — Mitch Buller and Isaac Goodman (O) def. David Jordan and Owen Geiken (DMH) 6-2, 6-0.