Indians stop JC's back-to-back title bid (10/06/03)

MARION — Jay County took care of the two teams it had already beaten this year, but a third they hadn’t seen rejected their try for back-to-back sectional titles.

The Patriot tennis team reached the championship match at the Marion Sectional for the fourth straight year Saturday, rolling over the host Giants 4-1. But, the Mississinewa Indians proved to be too much, topping Jay County 3-2 for their first sectional title in tennis.

The victory improved the Indians to 14-2 on the season. They will play in the Peru Regional Tuesday against Twin Lakes.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Mississnewa coach Rick Bomholt, who is retiring after this season. “We’ve been in the finals a lot of times, and we finally got over the hump. I couldn’t have scripted it out any better.”

The Patriots had chances at comebacks in two matches, but fell just short of the tiebreakers they needed.

“We got ourselves in trouble in the first set in a couple places,” said Jay County coach Barry Weaver. “We got ourselves in a bind and had trouble getting out of it.”

No. 1 singles player Kurtis Hess and No. 2 singles player Kentaro Ohgo earned first set wins, but Mississnewa triumphed in the first set in each of the other three matches.

At No. 3 singles, Derek Powell fell just short of a rally that could have saved the match for him.

Trailing 4-1 in the first set, Powell won the next three games to pull even against Alex Corbin. Corbin stepped in front 5-4 to stop the Jay County senior’s run, and the pair traded the next two games.

With Corbin serving up 6-5, Powell won the first two points, but couldn’t hold on to force the tiebreaker. He dropped each of the next four points, hitting one shot long and the final two into the net to drop the set.

Corbin took a 4-1 lead in the second set and Powell couldn’t stop him in the 7-5, 6-1 defeat.

The Patriots also had trouble at No. 1 doubles after Tyler Rigby and Randy Evans took a 2-1 lead in their match against Scott Mellor and Scott Shuler. The Jay County duo lost five of the final six games to fall in the first set, and were never close in the second in a 6-3, 6-1 loss.

The final hope for the Patriots came in the form of the No. 2 doubles pair of seniors Chip Feazell and Adam Paxson. They lost the opening set quickly 6-1, but turned their match around after trailing 1-0 in the second.

Feazell and Paxson took leads of 2-1 and 5-3 against Tyler Click and Justin Branock. The 5-3 lead was capped by a tremendous hustle play from Paxson, which silenced a premature celebration from the Mississnewa fans as the point ended with a Feazell slam.

But the Patriots couldn’t close out the second set. They lost each of the next three games as Click and Branock took a 6-5 lead.

With the match on the line, the Indians gave Jay County chance after chance to force a tiebreaker, double-faulting three times and making a variety of mistakes. But, Feazell and Paxson couldn’t convert any of their three game-point tries as Click and Branock eventually took the match 6-2, 7-5.

Jay County’s wins came from Hess and Ohgo, one easy and one long.

Hess (14-6) rebounded from a rough day in the sectional-opener against Blackford to clobber Mississnewa’s Chris Bomholt 6-1, 6-1. Hess beat his semifinal opponent, Jon Russell of Marion, by the same score.

In his two years at Jay County Hess has a record of 32-8.

“(Kurt was) outstanding after the trip up on Thursday,” said Weaver. “He played well. He was in very good form today.”

Ohgo (8-1) played a lengthy three-setter against previously unbeaten Cameron Branock for his 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 victory. He showed a flare for the dramatic, hobbling on a cramping right leg throughout the final set to hand Branock his first loss in 18 matches this year.

Despite the defeat, the Patriots’ pair of sectional wins gave them a 10-8 record on the year. It was a great run, especially for a team which lost seven seniors last year and had just two players back who played in the sectional tournament in 2002.

“I feel real good about what they accomplished,” said Weaver, crediting much of the success to senior leaders Derek Powell, Adam Paxson and Chip Feazell. “We have a lot of young kids, but on the other hand, we showed a lot of good things this year.”

In other semifinal matches against Marion, Ohgo defeated Brock Spencer 6-1, 6-1, and Powell topped Ryan Newton 6-3, 6-2. Evans and Rigby played a tremendous tiebreaker to defeat Jared Thorne and Sean Williams 6-4, 7-6 (7-0).

The lone loss for the Patriots in the semifinal round came at No. 2 doubles where Feazell and Paxson dropped a 7-5, 6-4 decision to Kyle Carter and Tyler Edwards.[[In-content Ad]]