July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Bellmont tops rusty Pats (09/30/04)
JCHS boys tennis
Bellmont tops rusty Pats (09/30/04)
DECATUR — Coach Barry Weaver can think of at least a few better ways to go into a sectional tournament.
Just a day before opening sectional action at Marion, Jay County’s boys tennis team took a tough loss Wednesday by a 3-2 score to the Bellmont Braves.
“... I hope it’ll get — especially the doubles guys and maybe Josh — aggravated enough to really play well,” said Weaver, whose team plays the host Giants in the Marion sectional opener today at 4 p.m. “... We knew coming in that Bellmont was very talented. ... they’re capable of beating a lot of teams.
“It’s not the way you want to go into a sectional, but hopefully it might be a wake-up call.”
Jay County (7-7) defeated the winless Giants 4-1 in the season’s opening match. But, it will need to play better than it did against the Braves if it hopes to make a run to a fifth consecutive sectional championship match.
Kurtis Hess and Matthias Scherer grabbed wins for the Patriots at No. 1 and 2 singles respectively, but the rest of the team struggled.
Randy Evans and Tyler Rigby lost for just the fourth time this season, and did so against a team they defeated 6-1, 6-1 at the DeKalb Invitational. This time around Adam Arnold and Mason Gage of Bellmont (5-9) played much better.
In the meantime, Evans and Rigby made their share of unforced errors in dropping the first set 6-1. They improved in set two, but not enough to stop the Braves’ duo in their final home match as they took a 6-1, 6-4 defeat.
Travis Smith and Adam Arnold, who also defeated Bellmont at DeKalb this year, trailed 4-1 at No. 2 doubles before they began to find a groove. They won the next two games against Ryan Braceu and Aaron Richie, but couldn’t rally to get the set.
The teams traded games in the second set, with Smith and Arnold eventually forcing a tiebreaker after a swing and a miss by Braceu.
The tiebreaker was tied at three, but Bellmont took the next four points to win it. Jay County donated a pair of unforced errors and Braceu and Richie each contributed a winner as they took the match 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).
Joshua Ludy had an up-and-down match against Jeff Heller at No. 3 singles. He was blanked in the first set, won the first three games in the second, then lost six of the next seven in a 6-1, 6-4 defeat.
Weaver said this team will need to get lighter on its feet if it wants to experience sectional success.
“We just looked like we were in quicksand, or our feet were in cement or something,” he said. “I think part of that has to do with not playing much in the last two weeks. I don’t know if it was just rust. Hopefully it is and it’ll come off tomorrow and we’ll be ready to go again.
“After the matches got going I think the light came back on for most of them and they were remembering what it was like to be moving around and hitting, but to get started slow can be a big chunk to make up in some places.”
The match against Bellmont was just the second for the Patriots since Sept. 16.
Hess made fairly quick work of Aaron Wilder, grabbing a 5-1 lead in the first set. He served well for the win, with Wilder knocking three of his first four service offerings into the net.
The junior rolled his record to 14-3 (47-11 career), chasing Wilder around the court and hitting some great lobs in a 6-1, 6-2 win.
Scherer lost the first game of his match against Joe Hammond, but then ran off six straight. He finished the first set with a drop shot, which Hammond tried to return only to have the ball hit the tape and fall back to his side of the court.
Scherer took the first three games of the second set. His lead slipped to 5-4, but he pulled out the 10th game to seal a 6-1, 6-4 win.
“(They did) just enough to keep it going,” said Weaver of the victories by Hess and Scherer. “Bellmont had two sophomores there ... and they’re getting much better. ... The kid at No. 1 was a very solid player. He could hit good shots, (but) Kurt just had him on the go.”
Junior varsity
Jay County and Bellmont split the four varsity matches Tuesday for a 2-2 tie.
Charlie Abbott picked up the lone singles win for the Patriots at the No. 2 spot, topping Dusty Teeple 8-1. Todd McCowan and Thomas McCowan teamed for an 8-1 victory over Chris Poater and Demar Amedker at No. 1 doubles.
In other singles matches Jeff Sims lost to Ryan Brune 8-5 and Ryan Sutton fell to Bubba Braun 8-1.[[In-content Ad]]
Just a day before opening sectional action at Marion, Jay County’s boys tennis team took a tough loss Wednesday by a 3-2 score to the Bellmont Braves.
“... I hope it’ll get — especially the doubles guys and maybe Josh — aggravated enough to really play well,” said Weaver, whose team plays the host Giants in the Marion sectional opener today at 4 p.m. “... We knew coming in that Bellmont was very talented. ... they’re capable of beating a lot of teams.
“It’s not the way you want to go into a sectional, but hopefully it might be a wake-up call.”
Jay County (7-7) defeated the winless Giants 4-1 in the season’s opening match. But, it will need to play better than it did against the Braves if it hopes to make a run to a fifth consecutive sectional championship match.
Kurtis Hess and Matthias Scherer grabbed wins for the Patriots at No. 1 and 2 singles respectively, but the rest of the team struggled.
Randy Evans and Tyler Rigby lost for just the fourth time this season, and did so against a team they defeated 6-1, 6-1 at the DeKalb Invitational. This time around Adam Arnold and Mason Gage of Bellmont (5-9) played much better.
In the meantime, Evans and Rigby made their share of unforced errors in dropping the first set 6-1. They improved in set two, but not enough to stop the Braves’ duo in their final home match as they took a 6-1, 6-4 defeat.
Travis Smith and Adam Arnold, who also defeated Bellmont at DeKalb this year, trailed 4-1 at No. 2 doubles before they began to find a groove. They won the next two games against Ryan Braceu and Aaron Richie, but couldn’t rally to get the set.
The teams traded games in the second set, with Smith and Arnold eventually forcing a tiebreaker after a swing and a miss by Braceu.
The tiebreaker was tied at three, but Bellmont took the next four points to win it. Jay County donated a pair of unforced errors and Braceu and Richie each contributed a winner as they took the match 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).
Joshua Ludy had an up-and-down match against Jeff Heller at No. 3 singles. He was blanked in the first set, won the first three games in the second, then lost six of the next seven in a 6-1, 6-4 defeat.
Weaver said this team will need to get lighter on its feet if it wants to experience sectional success.
“We just looked like we were in quicksand, or our feet were in cement or something,” he said. “I think part of that has to do with not playing much in the last two weeks. I don’t know if it was just rust. Hopefully it is and it’ll come off tomorrow and we’ll be ready to go again.
“After the matches got going I think the light came back on for most of them and they were remembering what it was like to be moving around and hitting, but to get started slow can be a big chunk to make up in some places.”
The match against Bellmont was just the second for the Patriots since Sept. 16.
Hess made fairly quick work of Aaron Wilder, grabbing a 5-1 lead in the first set. He served well for the win, with Wilder knocking three of his first four service offerings into the net.
The junior rolled his record to 14-3 (47-11 career), chasing Wilder around the court and hitting some great lobs in a 6-1, 6-2 win.
Scherer lost the first game of his match against Joe Hammond, but then ran off six straight. He finished the first set with a drop shot, which Hammond tried to return only to have the ball hit the tape and fall back to his side of the court.
Scherer took the first three games of the second set. His lead slipped to 5-4, but he pulled out the 10th game to seal a 6-1, 6-4 win.
“(They did) just enough to keep it going,” said Weaver of the victories by Hess and Scherer. “Bellmont had two sophomores there ... and they’re getting much better. ... The kid at No. 1 was a very solid player. He could hit good shots, (but) Kurt just had him on the go.”
Junior varsity
Jay County and Bellmont split the four varsity matches Tuesday for a 2-2 tie.
Charlie Abbott picked up the lone singles win for the Patriots at the No. 2 spot, topping Dusty Teeple 8-1. Todd McCowan and Thomas McCowan teamed for an 8-1 victory over Chris Poater and Demar Amedker at No. 1 doubles.
In other singles matches Jeff Sims lost to Ryan Brune 8-5 and Ryan Sutton fell to Bubba Braun 8-1.[[In-content Ad]]
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