Sectional three-peat (10/01/07)

MARION - Phil Powell watched the ball sail into the net, and then pumped his fist. The sectional title was secured.

Powell picked up the third and clinching point Saturday, following fellow singles players Josh Ludy and Kyle Simmons, as the Jay County High School boys tennis team won its third consecutive sectional title 4-1 over the host Marion Giants.

"I was nervous, because the last point to finish off the match is always the hardest," said Powell, who vanquished Nivan Chowattununnel 6-3, 6-2 to secure the championship. "That was a big win."

"It seems like kind of a tradition now," said Ludy, a senior, of the three consecutive sectional titles. "That's pretty cool to be part of.

"Last year we weren't really expecting much at all after losing the three seniors we had and we ended up doing fairly well. This year we kind of knew it was our year to do it."

The victory also made the 2007 version of the Patriots the best in school history. It was their 16th win of the season, breaking the record of 15 set by the 2005 squad.

"It's pretty unbelievable. The kids did a nice job. ... Three sectionals in a row is superb," said JCHS coach Barry Weaver, whose teams have won five crowns since picking up the first in school history in 2000. "Coming over to Marion and with the history of their program, it's been a lot of fun three years in a row coming in and getting to take the trophy home.

"The idea of the most (wins) in a season is pretty astonishing to me."

With Ludy and Simmons already victorious and both doubles matches seeming headed in Marion's favor, Powell was left to decide the Patriots' fate.

After serving out the first set at 6-3, Powell went up 5-2 in the second with a chance to serve and complete the match. He dropped the first point on a double fault, but won the next three to earn a double-match point.

Powell whacked a shot into the net to drop the first match-point try, but then finished off Chowattununnel. After volleying easily back-and-forth for about 10 swings, Powell chased his opponent to the left corner. Chowattununnel managed to get the ball back over the net, but couldn't do the same on his next shot leaving Powell to celebrate the individual and team victory.

Powell (14-6) struggled to start the season, but has since won 14 of his last 16 matches.

"He didn't dominate, he didn't run over his kid," said Weaver, "but at the same time he played smart enough tennis to hit shots that he knew were going to win him big points and finish off games."

The Patriots (16-2) advance to the regional tournament at Peru, where they will meet Logansport in semifinal action Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. Logansport beat Twin Lakes 5-0 in its sectional championship match.

"Right now we're just hoping to win regionals," said Powell. "The last two years we haven't been able to do that, so we're hoping to get past the first round and (give ourselves a chance)."

Logansport was also a regional qualifier last year, falling to Kokomo 5-0 in the semifinal round.

"They're a solid team, but their not overpowering," said Weaver. "We would love to win that first round and then get to go back on Wednesday. (Manchester is the one) that knocked us out last year 5-0, so we'd love to have another shot at them.

"Our goal right off the bat was to win a regional. ... We're certainly going to give it our best shot."

As a first-year tennis player a year ago, it was Simmons who clinched the title for the Patriots. Saturday he seemed set to record their first point before Ludy beat him to the finish.

After falling behind 2-1 in the opening set against Alex Hornett at No. 1 singles, Ludy absolutely caught fire. He won eight straight games to take the first set and grab a 3-0 lead in the second.

Hornett pulled to within 3-2 in the second, but that was as close as he would get. Ludy (17-4) pushed ahead to 5-3 and served out the match as Hornett failed to put either of Ludy's final service offerings in play.

"Josh is that kind of player," said Weaver of his eight-game run to take control of the match. "His main strength aside from his ability to hit the tennis ball is that when he finds a weakness with an opponent, he tends to exploit that. ... His mental toughness is probably the thing that stands out most."

Simmons was off the court just moments after Ludy as he shut out Nick Fauser in his second set.

He went to deuce twice in his final game before hitting a right-to-left cross-court volley winner to finish it off.

The victory pushed Simmons, who missed several matches this year with an injury, into double-digit wins at 10-6. Every Jay County player/team now has at least 10 victories, and the varsity starters have put together a combined mark of 74-25.

Leading that charge is the pair of Mark Alberson and Adam Horn, who had their backs against the wall before rallying to 19-2 on the year.

The Patriot No. 2 doubles pair lost the first set to Zac Lyons and Andrew Schoer, then trailed 5-2 in the second. Marion needed to win just once in the span of four games to secure the match, but could not do it.

Alberson and Horn ran off five straight games to swipe the second set and never looked back. They took the opening game of the third and deciding set, running away for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 triumph.

"That was an outstanding comeback from 2-5 down in the second set after losing the first set," said Weaver. "That's what I expect out of them. In the first 14 matches this year, that's what we got every time."

No. 1 doubles players Heath Rigby and Thomas McCowan (14-7) played a focused first set to shut out Michael Baldridge and Javier Fernandez, but could not sustain the effort. The Marion duo rallied back to top Rigby and McCowan 0-6, 6-2, 6-4.[[In-content Ad]]