Tennis handles Rebels

It took the Patriots only about an hour to score their second shutout win against a sectional opponent. Now they’ve got one match and a week of practice remaining to try to figure out how to reverse the result against the third.
Jay County High School’s girls tennis team dominated the visiting Randolph Southern Rebels as they gave up just six games Tuesday in a 5-0 victory.
“It was an important match just to get to play it, for one thing, because we have not played enough tennis,” said JCHS coach Susan Garringer, whose team also blanked sectional rival Union City on April 26. “That is really what we’re lacking here. We have not strung enough matches together to actually work on stuff, practices too.”
The Patriots (3-6) will close their regular season Monday at Alexandria before opening tournament play a week from today. In order to win their fourth straight sectional title, they’ll need to find a way to change their fortunes against a Winchester squad they lost 5-0 to April 18.
Jay County’s top two singles players will hope to be able to carry the momentum from Tuesday’s action as they cruised past their Randolph Southern foes.
Shelby McClain used her serve to control the action at the No. 2 spot, with the Rebels’ Hannah Haines struggling to hit returns throughout the night.
That was especially apparent in the final game after McClain fell behind because of a double fault. She bounced right back by smacking an ace down the center of the court, and two points later unleashed another ace for a 40-15 lead. Haines’ attempt at a return of the serve on the next point sailed long to give McClain a 6-0, 6-0 victory.
No. 1 singles player Kyra Braun was similarly strong throughout her match against Sierra Hall, frequently using drop shots to attack the net as she also scored a shutout win.
“Shelby has a consistent serve,” said Garringer. “She has a nice spin on that serve. It kicks. That is a strong point of her game, and she’s able to serve to the backhand a lot.
“Kyra’s serving well too. Krya hits the ball to the backhand on the serve a lot also. So that’s a strong point for her. She can use that as a weapon.”
Megan Johnson completed the singles sweep, winning the first nine games of her match against Molly Hunt.
The lead dwindled to 3-2 and then 4-3 in the second set, but she was able to grab the next two games as she ended the match with a cross-court winner.
No. 1 doubles players Abby Saxman and Abby Reier focused on attacking the net, sending volleys down the middle between RHS players Kenzi Chenowit and Lauren Rhotehamel. They rolled out to 4-1 leads in both sets en route to winning 6-2, 6-1.
Kayla Dirksen and Audrey Dirksen picked up a forfeit win at No. 2 doubles because Randolph Southern was not able to field a full lineup. Sydney Baughman of the Patriots won the lone junior varsity match of the night 8-0 over Sasicha Keeratiurai.
Now the focus becomes the Golden Falcons, because though JCHS was on the wrong end of a shutout the first time around the individual matches were competitive.
“Both doubles need to be more accurate at the net,” said Garringer, looking ahead to a potential tournament rematch. “They need to approach the net more, they need to be stronger with their volleying and they need to be smarter with the approach. …
“And with my singles, get to the net but get there smart. I don’t want them forcing themselves to the net because that’s where errors come.”