First since ’15

Lyric Garringer didn’t realize it, but the match was in her hands.

Both doubles teams had already off the courts with wins, meaning she could secure the sectional title for the Patriots.

Leading 5-2 over Union City’s Hannah Fischer in the second set, she missed on her first opportunity. She left no doubt on her second try.

Garringer served out the ninth game of the set at love to complete her 7-5, 6-3 victory and give the Jay County High School girls tennis team its first sectional championship since 2015.

“That’s exciting,” said Garringer, the only senior in the varsity lineup. “I didn’t expect that for us. …

“I’ve always just kind of known we weren’t going to win sectional,” she added. Winchester had won four straight before last season was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. “And then this year there was the chance that we could, so that was just exciting.”

“I’m giddy,” added junior doubles player Lilly Hedges. “It feels awesome. I’m really proud of everyone.”

Kiersten Blunk later added a three-set win at No. 3 singles for a 4-1 final score. The Patriots will head to the regional tournament Tuesday at Marion to take on the host Giants, who topped Mississinewa 4-1 Thursday for their sectional championship.

“This is great,” said JCHS coach Dave Cramer, whose team improved to 11-5. “This is a good feeling. We’ve got a bunch of really good girls that have worked hard and they’ve really earned this.”

No. 2 doubles team of Lilly Hedges and Holly Hemmelgarn made quick work of their match, and Madison Dirksen and Rachel Muhlenkamp didn’t take much longer to finish off their win at No. 1 doubles. That left the Patriots in need of just one singles victory to lock up the sectional title.

When both the No. 1 and 3 singles matches went to a third set, the spotlight shifted to Garringer. She had won 7-5 in the opening set against Fischer and took the first game of the second. They traded the next few games before Garringer won a couple back-to-back to push to a 5-2 lead.

Fischer won four out of five points to take the next game handily, but then Garringer stepped back to serve. She took the first point with an overhead slam and pushed to a 40-love lead thanks to a couple of Fischer errors.

Then, with the set on the line, Garringer attacked the net and Fischer’s return sailed wide right.

“I was following through better on my backhands,” said Garringer. “I haven’t been doing that a lot lately, but I was doing it pretty well today.”

The result at No. 2 doubles was never in doubt as Hedges and Hemmelgarn raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first set. They fought off a game point and went to deuce twice before finishing the first set on winner from Hedges.

A night after barely fighting off Winchester’s Kevlana Davis and Evy Hinds for a 6-3, 7-5 victory, they breezed through the second set to finish off their shutout.

“We were very careful on our shots, placement wise, because last night we were hitting them into the net or hitting them out,” said Hemmelgarn. “Tonight we could control them a lot better.”

Dirksen and Muhlenkamp had a slightly tougher road, but were still in control throughout. They won their first three games en route to taking the opening set 6-2 and then grabbed a 5-1 advantage in the second set before Union City’s Emily Evans and Andrea Sanders rallied to win back-to-back games.

But the comeback ended there as a Muhlenkamp volley and two Indian errors gave the Patriot pair a set point opportunity. Dirksen cashed it in, smashing a serve that Union City was unable to return cleanly.

Blunk had a tougher road to her No. 3 singles win as the match stretched about two and a half hours. She pulled out a tiebreaker to capture the first set, dropped the second and then fought back from down 3-0 in the third for a 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-4 victory over Christina Sowinski. (Their regular-season match also went three sets, with Blunk winning 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.)

Jay County’s Grace Brewster also went the distance against Carlee Rismiller at No. 1 singles but ran out of gas in the third. She claimed the first set 7-6 before dropping the second 6-1. She fell behind 4-1 in the third and could not rally in a 6-7 (2-7), 6-1, 6-2 defeat.