Jay Co. gets a victory (05/06/03)

PORTLAND — After a solid showing at the always-difficult DeKalb Invitational Saturday, the Jay County tennis team finally ended its losing streak.

Thanks to a quick win from Kelly Hess and a pair of tight victories by Daniela Harringer and the team of Julie Sours and Erin St. Myers, the Patriots pulled of a 3-2 win over Adams Central Monday. They had lost four straight matches prior to topping the Jets.

“With the alternate roster, we did OK,” said Jay County coach Deb Miller, who was playing without regular starters Kristen Klatt and Erin Schmiesing for a third consecutive meet. “We were not playing top notch tennis, but fortunately we came out with a win.”

Coming off a team-best third-place finish at DeKalb, Hess had no problems with Sara Collier at No. 2 singles in a dominating victory. She took a 5-0 lead and served out the first set at love before giving up one game in the second set for a 6-0, 6-1 victory.

Harringer had a bit more of a challenge in her match, leading 4-1 and 5-2 before Adams Central’s Lindsey Cloninger made a charge. Cloninger won back-to-back games to pull within one, but couldn’t hold off Harringer.

The pair went back-and-forth in the second set, trading the lead several times before Harringer took a 6-5 advantage. Cloninger pulled back to force a tiebreaker after a Harringer double fault.

The extra session was just as close as the set itself, but Harringer took it 7-5 for a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) victory.

Sours and St. Myers had a 5-2 lead on Ashley Fiechter and Amanda Isch at No. 1 doubles, only to have the pair cut the lead to 5-4. The Patriot pair managed to win the first set 6-4, then trailed 2-1 and 3-2 in the second.

Sours and St. Myers rallied to win four of the next five games for the 6-4, 6-4 final.

“Kelly did well,” said Miller. “She didn’t waste any time.

“Julie and Erin played better today, so did Brianne (Morrical) and Stephanie (Homan).”

Morrical and Homan looked to be in for a thrashing in their dual-meet debut at No. 2 doubles, trailing 5-2 in the first set against Betsy Goulet and Brandy Ratcliff. Instead, the pair came roaring back to win five straight games and take the first set.

However, after holding a 4-3 lead in the second set they lost three games in a row as Goulet and Ratcliff pushed them to a third set. The Jay County duo never led in the final set, and took a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 defeat.

Whitney Schemenaur suffered the other Patriot loss, falling 6-3, 6-2 to Katie Goulet.

“They started attacking more than defending,” said Miller of Morrical and Homan, who played together for the first time Saturday and placed fourth. “They were going for it. They just started hitting good shots.

“They had a lot of matches over the weekend, and I can see they’ve improved.”

Jay County (4-6) will try to pull a step closer to the .500 mark Wednesday when it visits Muncie Central at 4:30 p.m.

Junior varsity

The Patriots also won the junior varsity match against Adams Central 5-1.

Jay County swept singles action with easy wins in most of the matches.

Brittany Pinkerton and Niki Guntle led the way with the quickest wins, as Pinkerton topped Mary Anne Mishler 8-1 at No. 3 singles and Guntle defeated Alyssa Fone 8-1 at No. 4 singles. They also teamed to defeated Laura Schaadt and Kayli Call at No. 1 doubles, 8-2.

Chelsea Reff got by Aime King 8-2 at No. 1 singles, and Jessica DeRome defeated Natalie Mitchel 8-4 at No. 2 singles.

Angie Stults and Jenae Horn lost to Kari Ellenberger and Lilah Fisher 8-6.[[In-content Ad]]