Patriot tennis rolls to 5-1 (09/06/07)

BERNE - In his first varsity singles match, Chase Wellman fit right in with the Patriot theme. He dominated.

Jay County High School's boys tennis team won its fourth match in a row Wednesday, improving to 5-1 on the season with a 5-0 shutout of the South Adams Starfires.

Wellman, a first-year player as a junior, substituted for the injured Kyle Simmons at No. 3 singles, one of the four positions where the Patriots gave up three or fewer games.

He rolled to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Jacob Smith for his second varsity win of the year - the other came in doubles action.

Phil Powell and Josh Ludy completed the singles sweep at No. 2 and 1 singles respectively, each recording second-set shutouts.

Powell pulled above .500 for the first time at 5-4 after a difficult start to the season with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Daniel Dynes, and Ludy (9-1) dropped his first two games to Brett Wagner before winning 12 straight to stay perfect in dual matches with a 6-2, 6-0 final.

At No. 2 doubles Mark Alberson and Adam Horn stayed perfect with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Kyle Schmidt and Kegan Sprunger. Horn and Alberson are 10-0 on the year.

South Adams had a chance to salvage one victory after winning a tiebreaker in the first set at No. 1 doubles, but Patriots Heath Rigby and Thomas McCowan came roaring back for a 6-7 (1-7) 6-0, 6-2 triumph over Chase Ingle and Landyn Waugh.

Junior varsity

Jared Valentine gave Jay County a victory in the only match of the evening, blanking the Starfires' Reid Zurcher 6-0, 6-0.[[In-content Ad]]