Jay tops SAHS (09/09/2008)

With back-to-back shutout losses and a last-place finish at the DeKalb Invitational, it was a dismal start to the season for the Jay County High School boys tennis team. But the Patriots didn't let it bury them.

JCHS has bounced back by winning three of its last four matches, including Monday's 4-1 triumph over the visiting South Adams Starfires, to even its record at 3-3.

The Patriots swept through the singles matches with relative ease, but the highlight match of the evening came at No. 1 doubles.

"I was real glad to see our one doubles come back and get that second set," said JCHS coach Barry Weaver, whose team's lone loss in the last two weeks came 3-2 to Northeastern. "Almost to a man we haven't had a lot of comebacks ... all year. One doubles is where we really need to develop, and I think that's going to help them in the future. ... That was a real positive thing."

Adam Horn and Jared Valentine controlled the first set and won the opening game of the second. But they dropped five of the next six games, leaving them with the prospect of a third set staring them in the face.

They were up to the challenge.

Valentine and Horn rallied back to win four consecutive games and push to a 6-5 lead before the South Adams duo of Daniel Dynes and Landyn Waugh recovered to pull even and force a tiebreaker. After trading the first two points, the Patriot pair took control thanks to a pair of unforced errors by the Starfires and a winner down the right line by Horn.

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Jay County missed its first chance with quadruple match point, but picked up the win 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) on the next try when an SAHS volley flew wide to the right.

"It was all about confidence," said Weaver of Horn and Valentine, who have pulled to 4-5 on the year. "That second set is going to help their confidence, I hope a great deal. If we can get those two to play well together ... I think they can do a lot of good things."

Chase Wellman had no problems at No. 3 singles as he pushed his record above .500 at 5-4. He was off the court quickly, simply putting the ball back over the net and forcing Reid Zurcher of the Starfires to make the mistakes in a 6-0, 6-0 victory.

"I think Chase settling in at No. 3 singles is a real positive thing as far as the team outlook is concerned," said Weaver, who tried three different players at the No. 3 spot before settling on Wellman. "At three singles, if you're a good defensive player ... you're going to win a lot of matches. And that's just what Chase is."

Kyle Simmons (6-3) was also in control of his match throughout at No. 2 singles. He won the first five games against Kegan Sprunger before giving up a break as he tried to clinch a shutout first set.

However, he broke back to take the opening set in the seventh game and rolled to a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

Phil Powell (3-5) of JCHS and the Starfires' Chase Ingle battled back-and-forth early in each set at No. 1 singles.

They traded the first five games of the first set before Powell won three in a row to end it. Powell had just a 4-3 lead in the second set, but then broke Ingle's serve and closed out the 6-2, 6-3 victory with a volley winner.

"I think we're starting to see some real positive things," said Weaver. "(At the beginning of the year) Phil just wasn't convinced that he was a No. 1. Winning two or three matches there, I think he's convinced now that he belongs there."

The lone victory of the evening for South Adams came at No. 2 doubles, where Kyle Schmidt and Jacob Smith fought off a strong challenge from Sam Miller and Tylor Smith (1-7) of the Patriots.

The teams were deadlocked at two, three, four and five in the first set, and South Adams took a 6-5 lead on serve. Miller and Smith had several game-point chances to pull even and force a tiebreaker, but Schmidt and Smith fought them off and eventually took the set on a double fault.

The Starfires won four of the first five games of the second set and went on to take the match 7-5, 6-2.

Junior varsity

Jay County dropped the junior varsity match 4-1 to the Starfires.

The lone win for Jay County came at No. 2 doubles where Austin Cowan and Seth Ainsworth beat Zach Yoder and J.D. Tarr 8-0.

South Adams also had a shutout victory as Derek Schwartz defeated Tony Schwieterman 8-0 at No. 2 singles. The other two singles matches also went to the Starfires, with Alex Huber topping Joe Imel 8-2 at No. 1 and Jeremiah Heckard knocking off Matt Shrack 8-5 at No. 3.

In the No. 1 doubles match, Ian Frank and Steve Horton of SAHS beat Patriots Chance Fuller and Jordan McBride 8-4.[[In-content Ad]]