Jay brings down Jets (09/26/06)

MONROE - Monday was a good day all around for the Jay County boys tennis team.

It started with the Patriots scoring a 5-0 victory over the Adams Central Jets, pulling them within one of the school's regular-season wins record with one match to play. Then they drew the bye in the sectional tournament, avoiding the possibility of five matches in one week.

"Hopefully we can get in a situation unlike where we've been the last few years and get the short route to the finals," said Weaver after the win over Adams Central, but before learning the sectional draw. "We'd love that."

The coach's wish was granted later in the evening when Mississinewa and host Marion drew Thursday's opening match. The winner of that battle will play Madison-Grant in one semifinal Friday with Jay County and Blackford playing in the other. Both semifinal matches will be at 4:30 p.m.

The championship match will be Saturday at 10 a.m.

Jay County (11-4) will enter the sectional tournament as the favorites, having scored wins of 3-2 over Marion and 4-1 over Blackford already this season.

The Patriots defeated Marion, Blackford and Mississinewa en route to the title last season. They also won sectional crowns in 2000 and 2002.

After Weaver mixed up his lineup in last week's win over Muncie Southside, the Jay County No. 1 doubles pair got back together and back on track Monday. The duo of Thomas McCowan and Heath Rigby had struggled since the DeKalb Invitational early in the season, but controlled their match against Jared Grandlienard and Dustin Garwood of Adams Central.

McCowan and Rigby (8-10) went up 40-love en route to breaking the Jets' serve in the opening game of the match. They won each of the first two games, and rolled to a 6-2, first-set win.

Grandlienard and Garwood tried to return the favor, earning a break point opportunity in the opening game of the second set.

However, the Patriot pair fought back to deuce and took the game on back-to-back unforced errors by the Jets.

The set stayed close with Rigby and McCowan leading just 4-3, but they won each of the next two games to complete the 6-2, 6-3 victory.

"I'm hoping that it helped a little bit," said Weaver of the shake-up, which had Rigby playing singles and McCowan paired with Josh Ludy against Southside. "The early indications are that it might have had a little impact.

"Heath was a little more confident in his ground strokes this evening.

"No. 1 doubles finally got going again. I'd love for them to get a run going again like they did last year at the end of the season."

Sophomore Phil Powell continued his run of excellent play at No. 2 singles after standing strong against ninth-ranked Delta and stepping up for victory at the No. 1 spot against Southside.

Powell (13-5), who narrowly lost his second set against Delta's Josh Chambers in a tiebreaker, was off the court in a hurry Monday. Although he gave up four games, he finished the match in a matter of about 45 minutes with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Albert Andrews.

"I think that was probably important for him more than anything - the level that he played against the Chambers kid from Delta," said Weaver. "It's just a confidence things. That's what it's all about.

"If you know that you're able to step out there and hit the ball well and keep it in play, then that makes the next point a little bit easier. ... Right now Phil is playing about as well as I've seen him play."

Josh Ludy, a junior, also improved to 13-5, and sophomore Kyle Simmons pushed his record to 12-6 to complete the singles sweep. At No. 1 singles, Ludy gave up two games in the opening set before dominating the second in a 6-2, 6-0 win. Simmons avoided his typical three-set marathon in his 6-1, 6-3 No. 3 singles win over Adam Gerber.

Mark Alberson and Adam Horn trailed 5-4 in a first-set tiebreaker, but earned three consecutive points on Jet errors to comeback for the win. They copied Ludy's effort in the second set for a 7-6 (7-5), 6-0 victory.[[In-content Ad]]