Scherer wins another as JC tops Falcons 4-1 (09/17/04)

PORTLAND — Before this week the Jay County boys tennis team had just one 4-1 victory, coming in the season opener at Marion. With Matthias Scherer in the lineup, it has now won back-to-back-matches by that score.

The Patriots won 4-1 for the second straight night Thursday as they topped the Winchester Golden Falcons.

With the victory, they jumped two matches above .500 for the first times since Aug. 28.

“Seven and five is not all bad,” said Jay County coach Barry Weaver, whose team is on pace to match last year’s 10-8 record and make a run to a fifth straight sectional championship match. “It was a pretty good deal tonight. I feel like we played all right.”

Scherer dominated Brad Moore Thursday, opening a 3-0 lead. He went up 40-love serving for the set at 5-2, made two unforced errors, but won the game and the set when a shot by Moore went wide right.

He ran out to a 5-0 lead, dominating the second set. He won 6-2, 6-0 when Moore tried unsuccessfully to volley a powerful forehand shot.

Scherer, a German foreign exchange student, joined the starting lineup five matches ago. He lost his first two, but is 3-0 this week and has given the Patriots a lift they needed.

The Patriots had been 0-10 at No. 2 singles for the season before Scherer entered the lineup.

“We didn’t have any wins at No. 2 singles, so any that we’ve gotten obviously are a real plus,” said Weaver. “Most of the time his steady play is what we need at that position. ... Consistency like that is great.”

Four of Jay County’s first five wins came with No. 1 singles player Kurtis Hess, No. 1 doubles pair Randy Evans and Tyler Rigby and No. 2 doubles pair Travis Smith and Adam Arnold earning points. All three took care of business against the Golden Falcons.

Evans and Rigby (13-2) split the first two games with Winchester’s Josh Geesy and Thad Blunk, but got rolling after that. They were finding the open spots on the court almost at will as they rolled to a 6-2, 6-0 victory.

Smith and Arnold (9-6) trailed 3-2 in the first set of their battle with Zach Pegg and Daniel Maggart before finding their groove. They won four of the next five games to take the first set and cruised to a 5-2 lead in the second.

With Arnold serving, the Patriots squandered three match points and fought off two Winchester break points before winning 6-4, 6-2 when the Golden Falcons put the ball into the net.

“Those two guys — I enjoy watching them play when they’re doing the things they know how to do ...” said Weaver of the No. 2 doubles pair.

“It takes (Evans and Rigby) a game or two to get started. ... Then they start putting things together and they’re so athletic that they make it look easy.”

Hess (13-2) looked ready for an easy night as he cruised to a 6-0, first-set win. But, he dropped the first three games of the second set and had to scuffle back to force a tiebreaker. He trailed 2-1 in the tiebreaker, but managed to avoid a third set with a 6-0, 7-6 (7-4) victory.

Jeff Sims played better in the second set than the first at No. 2 doubles, but is still looking for his first win of the season after a 6-0, 6-3 loss to Nathaniel Detro.

Jay County will face its toughest test of the season Tuesday when it hosts No. 6 Delta in the final home meet of the season at 4:30 p.m.

Junior varsity

The Patriot junior varsity team took victories at the top three singles spots and both doubles positions for a 5-2 victory over Winchester Thursday.

Josh Ludy and Charlie Abbott led the win at No. 1 and 2 singles respectively. Ludy topped Patrick Williams 8-1, and Abbott knocked off Jerren Fair by the same score.

Todd McCowan added an 8-4 victory over Williams at No. 3 singles.

Jason Crouch and Thomas Shrack teamed at No. 1 doubles, topping Spencer Cook and Brock Edwards 8-5. No. 2 doubles duo James Heare and Thomas McCowan beat Jared Bogue and Tim Stewart 8-3.

In other singles matches Jared Shrack lost to Fair 8-0, and Ryan Sutton fell to Edwards 8-0.[[In-content Ad]]