Jay Co. netters blank Bruins (09/16/03)

PORTLAND — The results don’t lie. The Jay County tennis team has established itself as a favorite to win a third sectional title in four years.

Despite losing seven seniors to graduation, the Patriots’ 5-0 domination of the Blackford Bruins Monday made them 2-0 against possible sectional opponents.

Jay County (5-6) also defeated Marion 3-2 in the opening match of the season. The X-factor in the sectional tournament may be Mississinewa, which defeated Blackford 4-1 earlier in the season.

“That’s a challenge,” said Patriot coach Barry Weaver of the possibility of bringing home another sectional trophy. “That’s what I’ve got to start building on now. We start talking about sectional on the first day, but now that we’re two-and-a-half weeks away, we can really start to see it.”

After struggling mightily last week against Bluffton, Jay County had little difficulty disposing of the Bruins.

Japanese foreign exchange student Kentaro Ohgo dominated Bret Ashley in his first home match as a Patriot. He rolled two a 6-1, 6-0 victory, scoring each of the last two points when Ashley banged shots into the net.

Weaver said Ohgo may help in practice as much as he does in match situations.

“Having him in practice really helps the intensity,” said Weaver. “Having somebody hitting the ball as hard and being as excited about tennis as he is helps.”

Chip Feazell and Adam Paxson toppled Justin Perry and Nick Baughey nearly as quickly with a 6-2, 6-0 victory. The final point of their match illustrated what has allowed the pair of seniors to become a solid team.

Talking to each other all the way first Feazell ran down a ball well beyond the baseline, then Paxson did it. Paxson’s lob set up Feazell for a match-winning slam one swing later.

Randy Evans and Tyler Rigby also continue to improve on the court together. They clobbered Jeremy Keplinger and Chance Wimmer 6-2, 6-1.

“I think we needed this win to boost our confidence level,” said Feazell.

Added Paxson: “We moved in to the net better, and talked (more).”

Derek Powell powered to a 5-2 lead in his first set before Nathan Baughey made him work. Baughey won each of the next two games as Powell hit several overhead slams into the net.

Still, Powell closed out the set with an ace, and controlled the rest of the action. He won the second set easily for a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

Kurtis Hess had similar trouble against Tom Ehrhart in the second set. After winning the first 6-2 and leading the second 5-2 the tables turned.

Ehrhart won each of the next four games to earn a 6-5 lead and put Hess on the ropes. The Jay County sophomore No. 1 singles player finally broke through to force a tiebreaker.

Hess again just held on, taking a 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) victory when Ehrhart couldn’t return his final serve.

“That was about a 180 degree turn around from last week,” said Weaver. “We played much better tennis tonight. Up and down the line I think everybody played their strongest tennis of the season so far, as opposed to being as low as a snake’s belly in a tire rut.

“We had some places last week here we couldn’t get over the hump. To get to the five points and then close out a set was a nice thing to see.”

Jay County will try to build on the Blackford success when it hosts Adams Central today at 4:30 p.m.

Junior varsity

The Patriots junior varsity team dropped a 3-2 decision to Blackford to fall to 7-4 on the season.

Jay County won both of the doubles matches on the evening, but couldn’t get a singles win to come away with a team victory.

At No. 1 doubles, Jeff Sims and Travis Smith got by Andy Langdon and Brian Bradford 8-4. Chad Miller and Adam Arnold teamed for an 8-5 victory over Wes Ford and Sumcet Patel.

Jason Crouch played the closest singles match at the No. 1 spot, falling to Tobin Richardson 8-5.

In other singles matches Todd McCowan lost to Michael Ester 8-3, and James Heare was beaten by Travis Stroud 8-0.[[In-content Ad]]