Patriot netters get 5th victory (09/08/05)

BERNE — The Patriots are halfway to the record.

Jay County’s boys tennis team won its fifth match Wednesday night, knocking off the host South Adams Starfires 3-2. With its record now at 5-1, the squad will need to win five of its final seven matches to tie the school record of 10 wins set in 2002.

All three of the Patriots’ victories over South Adams came after difficult starts.

Kurt Hess, who played No. 2 singles on the record-setting ’02 team, got his game rolling after a slow start to improve to 9-2 on the year. He defeated Brandon Liechty 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1 singles.

Sophomore No. 2 singles player Josh Ludy also took a while to get going, but knocked off Brett Zurcher 6-3, 6-2.

Randy Evans and Tyler Rigby managed to win just two games in the first set before flipping the switch. The No. 1 doubles duo turned on its game in the second set to keep pace with Hess at 9-2 with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Tom Masterson and Lee Hoeppner.

The other two varsity matches went to South Adams as Cory Sprunger defeated Thomas McCowan 6-1, 6-1 at No. 3 singles. It was McCowan’s first singles match of the year.

Phil Powell, who normally plays at the No. 3 spot, teamed with Heath Rigby at No. 2 doubles and lost a tight match to Drew Dull and Carter Sprunger 7-5, 7-5.

Jay County won all three junior varsity matches against South Adams.

James Heare won by the widest margin, shutting out Kyle Schmidt at No. 3 singles 8-0.

Jason Crouch won the No. 1 singles match 8-2 over Bret Wagner, and Adam Horn topped Landyn Waugh 8-2 at No. 2 singles.[[In-content Ad]]