Patriot boys lose to Knights

The Patriots were unable to even their record Thursday. But coach Barry Weaver thinks they are still headed in the right direction.
After a 4-1 loss to the Northeastern Knights, the Jay County High School boys tennis coach said he’s seeing improvement across the board.
“We’re playing much, much, much better tennis,” said Weaver, whose team won just five games combined in opening losses to Marion and Norwell. “Overall, I think we’re playing better tennis than I thought we’d be playing at this time of year. I’m real pleased with it.”
The only victory for the Patriots against Northeastern came at No. 2 doubles when Joe Imel and Drew Wood dominated the opening set for a 6-2 victory. The second set against Lucas Fleming and Nick Austerman was far more of a battle, with teams playing even over 12 games on the way to a tiebreaker.
Wood and Imel jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the tiebreaker before dropping the next five points in a row as the Knights pulled to within two of forcing a third set. But the JCHS duo fought back and ended the match in straight sets — 6-2, 7-6 (8-6).
“Two doubles tonight was a fun match to watch,” said Weaver. “Joe is always excitable. He’s always emotional. He gets out there and plays with a lot of enthusiasm and covers the court.
“Drew (a first-year player as a senior) is just very consistent. He does what he can do. He knows that he’s not going to hit a 5,000-mile an hour overhead; he’s just got to get it in. …
“And I like the way both of them love to play towards the net. If you’re going to play good doubles, you really have to play well at the net.”
Brad Leuthold and Landry Inman were each in their matches at No. 1 and 3 singles respectively.
Inman split games early in the first set, trailing 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 before dropping back-to-back games to end it. Jeremy Lacey of the Knights controlled the second set to take a 6-3, 6-1 win.
Leuthold dropped his first three games against Jacob Rankin before winning a pair and carrying some momentum into the second.
He turned in a strong battle before falling 6-2, 6-3.
“Landry’s (match) ended up a little more lopsided that I thought it was,” said Weaver. “But at the same time, I thought for his first varsity singles match he did a nice job of getting some things accomplished. He was hitting the ball with authority on the forehand side.
“Brad played a really nice match against a real tough kid, a left-hander. … That was the strongest I’ve ever seen him play.”
Chance Fuller and Jordan McBride fell 6-1, 6-0 to Zeth Ellis and Ryan Hester at No. 1 doubles, and Derek Smith suffered a 6-0, 6-1 defeat to Derek Blunk.

Junior varsity
Jay County lost 4-1 to the Knights with their lone victory coming at No. 2 doubles.
Josh Lykins and Preston Overholser earned the win 8-1 over Seth Gard and Ben Swift. At No. 1 doubles, Dylan Franks and Colby Cline fell 8-3.
In singles action Tony Scwieterman lost 8-2 at No. 1, Matt Shrack fell 8-0 at No. 2 and Evan Mathias lost 8-3 at No. 3.[[In-content Ad]]