Bearcats blank Jay Co. (05/04/06)

After back-to-back wins, the Patriots are back on the wrong kind of streak.

Suffering from a variety of injuries, the Jay County girls tennis team dropped its third in a row Wednesday by a 5-0 score to the visiting Muncie Central Bearcats.

JCHS (2-9) was shut out in four straight matches earlier this year, but bounced back with victories over Frankton and Muncie Southside. But with No. 1 singles player Angie Stults out with a back injury and several others less than 100 percent, the loss to Central marked the second straight shutout and sixth of the year.

Patriot coach Roy Adams, who has just one player with varsity experience with Stults out of the lineup, said his squad is still trying to learn to be consistent.

“We get streaks,” he said. “They’re starting to put some rallies together, but they don’t know how to finish it.”

Jay County’s closest matches against the Bearcats came at No. 2 doubles and No. 3 singles.

Cindy Muhlenkamp and Tiffani Bickel had leads in both sets against Bailey Hall and Michelle Smaltz, but they were short-lived.

They led 1-0 in the opener, but won just one more game the rest of the way. In the second set they rallied for a 3-2 lead only to lose the next four games, ending the match with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat when a shot by Bickel flew long.

Adams dropped the opening three games of her match against Whitney Ruble, but managed to win three of the next four before dropping the first set. She led 2-1 in the second set, but Ruble took the victory 6-3, 6-2.

Roy Adams said he saw good intensity from his No. 3 singles player and “I certainly think that No. 2 doubles has shown the (potential). But they’re young. We’re still fighting some of those youth things.”

Carissa Wilkins was the only other Patriot to win a game against the Bearcats. She managed to take a pair in the opening set against Trista Hardwick, but fell 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2 singles.

At No. 1 doubles Megan Knittle and Jessica Muhlenkamp lost 6-0, 6-0 to Alex Ayers and Kathryn Smith. Heather Ayers, up from the junior varsity No. 1 spot in place of Stults, fell 6-0, 6-0 to Kyle Hall.

“(We’re trying to) get doubles to just have confidence and play,” said Adams. “They’ve been really tight and tense and just haven’t relaxed.

“They seem to be putting a lot of pressure on themselves.”

Adams, whose team plays in the Olympic Athletic Conference tournament this weekend, said he expects to be without Stults for at least another week.

Junior varsity

The Patriots got their lone victory of the night from Betsy Knittle as the team lost 7-1 to Muncie Southside.

Knittle defeated Katrin Wolfertz 8-0 at No. 5 singles to put Jay County on the board. The Patriots had one other tight match with Knittle and Brittany Lewis falling 8-6 to Paula Traex and Shelbe Tillman at No. 1 doubles.

In other singles matches, Caitlin Dunn lost 8-3 to Emily Collins, Hannah McAbee fell 8-0 to Anne Meredith, Megan McGraw dropped 8-0 to Chelsea Mitchell and Megan Huntsman lost 8-3 to Hanna Maynard. In doubles action it was Huntsman and Briann Saxman falling 8-2 to Sara Hanauer and Eliza Ogasauora, and Saxman and McAbee taking an 8-3 loss against Stephanie Thomas and Yvonne Kwekwe.[[In-content Ad]]