Patriots avoid sweep

It’s been quite some time since the Patriots weren’t swept by the Tigers.

As conference rivals, it never happened.

The Patriots ended the streak Thursday.

Abraham Dirksen was victorious at No. 3 singles on Thursday as the Jay County High School boys tennis team fell to Allen County Athletic Conference rival Bluffton, 4-1.

“I feel really good,” JCHS coach Scott Miller said. “I feel really good about this year. I feel really good about this team. I feel really good about where we are at this point in the season. Everybody continues to get better.

“For Abraham to get that win was big for us. We are definitely going to come away from this with a positive attitude and feeling good about ourselves.”

It marked the first time since 2013, when Barry Weaver was the coach, the Patriots (5-5) did not lose 5-0 to the Tigers.

Dirksen, just a freshman, cruised to a 6-1 win in the opening set of his match against Dylan King, but let up just a little bit in the second. King grabbed two of the first three games, before Dirksen rallied to take the lead and eventually win 6-4.

“It’s fantastic,” Miller said of his youngster getting the victory. “He’s been working hard all season getting better every day. He’s made tons of progress as a freshman.

“He played a good match tonight. For him to get the win, it’s nice for us to get a win against Bluffton at any position.”

At No. 1 singles, Jay County’s Crosby Heniser played Mason Schwartz much closer than the 6-4, 6-3 score suggests. His serves were crisp, he mixed in soft, backhanded shots with strong forehanded strikes. However, just an inch here or there separated many of his attacks from going over the net instead of striking the tape or from being on the line instead of ruled out.

“He’s still going out and fighting,” Miller said.

Heniser was visibly irritated at his mistakes knowing full well they were just that — mistakes.

“I think a lot of the time he’s fighting himself out there more so than the other guy across the net trying to deal with frustration of losing a point that he feels like he should win,” Miller continued. “One of the things I’d really like to see him working on is patting himself on the back when he has a good shot. He’s really hard on himself when he hits bad shots but he doesn't recognize all the good shots he’s hitting too.”

Frankie Crump and Gavin Myers lost for the first time as a No. 1 doubles tandem, falling to Wyatt Corkwell and Kaleb Riley 6-4, 6-1. Once they dropped the opening game of the first set they weren’t quite able to get over the hump to take the lead.

They lost game one of the second set as well.

“Not a bad loss at all,” Miller said. “They came away from the match also feeling if they got to play it again maybe they’d have a different outcome. I totally agree with that assessment from them.”

Darius Esparza and Sam Myers dropped their No. 2 doubles match to Jared Franklin and Cooper King 6-3, 6-1. They were tied 3-3 in the set one before losing the final three games. Miller noted Esparza and Myers showed tremendous improvement on their play at the net despite their loss.

Simon Dirksen fell at No. 2 singles to Keegan Schwartz. 6-1, 6-0.

“I was really happy with the way Simon played tonight,” said Miller, whose team hits the road Monday to take on Blackford, goes to Adams Central on Tuesday before a home match with sectional rival Winchester on Thursday. “He played hard, played every point out, made (Schwartz) hit shots. He kept the ball in play (and) kept the rallies going, (Schwartz) always seemed to have the shot to put it away.”



Junior varsity

Jay County’s junior varsity team lost 4-3.

Isaac Miller got an 8-6 singles win, and Gage Sims had an 8-7 (7-0)?victory. Skyler Bee and Seth Degler won a doubles match, 8-3.