September 19, 2017 at 1:07 a.m.
Jay falls to Braves, 5-0
Jay falls to Braves, 5-0
Copyright 2017, The Commercial Review
All Rights Reserved
The two players with the most experience put up a valiant effort.
They just came up a little short.
The rest of the team didn’t fare so well either.
Jay County High School’s boys tennis team on Monday was at the wrong end of a 5-0 score for the sixth time this season as it lost to the Bellmont Braves.
“They are a good team,” said JCHS coach Scott Miller, whose team drops to 3-9 on the year and completes its Allen County Athletic Conference schedule Thursday on the road at South Adams. “From our perspective when you go up against a team like that, what you try to do is work on a part of your game.
“Some of the guys did a real nice job stepping up to the plate as far as that was concerned. Being patient and taking their shots.”
He noted the play of seniors Garrett Rodgers and Payton Heniser, the top two singles competitors who were in matches closer than the scores might suggest.
Rodgers, the No. 1 player for Jay County, dropped the first two games of his match against Robby Ysidron before taking game three. He managed to grab one more game from Ysidron, and lost both sets by 6-2 scores. Early in the first set with Rodgers serving, Ysidron’s return was too strong and painted the sidelines enough that the JCHS senior wasn’t able to make plays on them.
“In that first set Garrett was right in it,” Miller said. “They were on serve there for a while, kind of trading games for a while. Garrett couldn’t get over the hump and it got away from him there in the end.
“He never quit today. He played the whole match through.”
After losing the first set 6-1 to Nick Teeple at No. 2 singles, Payton Heniser had a 3-1 advantage over Teeple in the second set. Teeple’s net play after his serve helped him win the fifth game, before Heniser won on his serve for a 4-3 lead. But Heniser wasn’t able to force a third set in a 6-4 loss.
“He kind of got his feet underneath him,” Miller said. “That first set was pretty rough … Had a couple opportunities to get that second set but couldn’t put the games away.”
At No. 3 singles, Bellmont’s Parker Braun was nursing a shoulder injury so he wasn’t able to serve overhand.
His weak, short serves repeatedly forced Jay County’s Conner Benter to crash the net to play them, and after Benter would come to stop for another volley Braun was blasting a strong ground stroke by him for a point.
“He was playing a different style on his serve but it worked out clearly to his advantage because he was hitting a short ball,” Miller said.
Braun won, 6-0, 6-0.
“He was playing Conner like a yo-yo out there,” Miller added. “Conner was exhausted. He was trying to adjust and trying to figure out a strategy to stay in some of the points. He did stay in some of the points. Even played some of the points pretty well but that kid just had Conner’s number today.”
Jay County’s doubles teams struggled mightily against Bellmont. At No. 1 doubles, senior Xavier Ninde and junior Ethan Myers lost to Mitchell Wetter and Oliver Gehres 6-1, 6-0. They lost the first four games of the match before breaking Bellmont’s serve to win game five. But the Brave duo rebounded to win the next eight games in putting the match away.
In an attempt to give the Patriots’ the best chance to win come sectional, Miller toyed with his No. 2 doubles team by pairing Gabe Blankenship with Sheldon Upp, who had joined Gavin Randall for most of the season.
Playing for the first time together, Blankenship and Upp fell to Jarrett Bailey and Joe Mendoza 6-1, 6-0.
“Our doubles teams were just outmatched,” Miller said.
But Miller isn’t expecting that to be the case on Thursday against South Adams, which was the only ACAC team the Patriots defeated last season.
“The biggest thing we have to do between now and Thursday is just stay focused,” Miller said. “We just have to make sure we’re mentally ready to go into that match Thursday, ready to make them earn their points and not just give it away.”
Junior varsity
Jay County’s junior varsity squad fell to the Braves, 3-2.
Gavin Randall split his singles matches. He dropped an 8-2 game to Noah Zimmerman before defeating Ishan Dvan 8-6.
Calvin Whitney also won, beating Devin Stetler 8-4 in their singles match.
Mitchell Ferguson and Calvin Whitney lost to Maverick Shifferly and Mason Vrablic 8-4, while Christian Romero and Ben Muhlenkamp fell 8-5 to John Thomas and Jordan Baker.
All Rights Reserved
The two players with the most experience put up a valiant effort.
They just came up a little short.
The rest of the team didn’t fare so well either.
Jay County High School’s boys tennis team on Monday was at the wrong end of a 5-0 score for the sixth time this season as it lost to the Bellmont Braves.
“They are a good team,” said JCHS coach Scott Miller, whose team drops to 3-9 on the year and completes its Allen County Athletic Conference schedule Thursday on the road at South Adams. “From our perspective when you go up against a team like that, what you try to do is work on a part of your game.
“Some of the guys did a real nice job stepping up to the plate as far as that was concerned. Being patient and taking their shots.”
He noted the play of seniors Garrett Rodgers and Payton Heniser, the top two singles competitors who were in matches closer than the scores might suggest.
Rodgers, the No. 1 player for Jay County, dropped the first two games of his match against Robby Ysidron before taking game three. He managed to grab one more game from Ysidron, and lost both sets by 6-2 scores. Early in the first set with Rodgers serving, Ysidron’s return was too strong and painted the sidelines enough that the JCHS senior wasn’t able to make plays on them.
“In that first set Garrett was right in it,” Miller said. “They were on serve there for a while, kind of trading games for a while. Garrett couldn’t get over the hump and it got away from him there in the end.
“He never quit today. He played the whole match through.”
After losing the first set 6-1 to Nick Teeple at No. 2 singles, Payton Heniser had a 3-1 advantage over Teeple in the second set. Teeple’s net play after his serve helped him win the fifth game, before Heniser won on his serve for a 4-3 lead. But Heniser wasn’t able to force a third set in a 6-4 loss.
“He kind of got his feet underneath him,” Miller said. “That first set was pretty rough … Had a couple opportunities to get that second set but couldn’t put the games away.”
At No. 3 singles, Bellmont’s Parker Braun was nursing a shoulder injury so he wasn’t able to serve overhand.
His weak, short serves repeatedly forced Jay County’s Conner Benter to crash the net to play them, and after Benter would come to stop for another volley Braun was blasting a strong ground stroke by him for a point.
“He was playing a different style on his serve but it worked out clearly to his advantage because he was hitting a short ball,” Miller said.
Braun won, 6-0, 6-0.
“He was playing Conner like a yo-yo out there,” Miller added. “Conner was exhausted. He was trying to adjust and trying to figure out a strategy to stay in some of the points. He did stay in some of the points. Even played some of the points pretty well but that kid just had Conner’s number today.”
Jay County’s doubles teams struggled mightily against Bellmont. At No. 1 doubles, senior Xavier Ninde and junior Ethan Myers lost to Mitchell Wetter and Oliver Gehres 6-1, 6-0. They lost the first four games of the match before breaking Bellmont’s serve to win game five. But the Brave duo rebounded to win the next eight games in putting the match away.
In an attempt to give the Patriots’ the best chance to win come sectional, Miller toyed with his No. 2 doubles team by pairing Gabe Blankenship with Sheldon Upp, who had joined Gavin Randall for most of the season.
Playing for the first time together, Blankenship and Upp fell to Jarrett Bailey and Joe Mendoza 6-1, 6-0.
“Our doubles teams were just outmatched,” Miller said.
But Miller isn’t expecting that to be the case on Thursday against South Adams, which was the only ACAC team the Patriots defeated last season.
“The biggest thing we have to do between now and Thursday is just stay focused,” Miller said. “We just have to make sure we’re mentally ready to go into that match Thursday, ready to make them earn their points and not just give it away.”
Junior varsity
Jay County’s junior varsity squad fell to the Braves, 3-2.
Gavin Randall split his singles matches. He dropped an 8-2 game to Noah Zimmerman before defeating Ishan Dvan 8-6.
Calvin Whitney also won, beating Devin Stetler 8-4 in their singles match.
Mitchell Ferguson and Calvin Whitney lost to Maverick Shifferly and Mason Vrablic 8-4, while Christian Romero and Ben Muhlenkamp fell 8-5 to John Thomas and Jordan Baker.
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