Team loses, seniors advance (10/05/05)

PERU — The season came to an end for the Jay County boys tennis team Tuesday, but the seniors will play on.

The Patriots dropped out of the state tennis tournament with a 3-2 regional semifinal loss to the Twin Lakes Indians. However, Kurt Hess and the team of Tyler Rigby and Randy Evans each earned victories and will continue play in the singles and doubles tournaments respectively.

Hess was dominant in his No. 1 singles match, leaving no doubt that he would advance. He destroyed Austin Mann 6-0, 6-1 to improve to 17-4 on the season.

Evans and Rigby used a different path against Cody Bishop and Tyler Bentlage at No. 1 doubles.

The duo dropped the opening set 6-1, but came back to cruise to a 6-0 victory in the second. They took a 5-2 lead in the third set, dropped four straight games to trail 6-5, then forced a tiebreaker.

The Patriots dominated the extra session, finishing off a 1-6, 6-0, 7-6 (7-0) victory. Rigby and Evans, who made it to the final 16 in the state in doubles action last season, are now 18-3 on the year.

Jay County’s three seniors are scheduled to play again at Peru Saturday at 10 a.m.

The three wins for Twin Lakes all came in straight sets.

Jay County’s Josh Ludy fell 6-1, 6-2 to Pete Crowel at No. 2 singles, and Phil Powell lost 6-3, 6-4 to Marc Allen at No. 3 singles. In doubles action Heath Rigby and Thomas McCowan fell 6-3, 6-2 to Jeremy Clifford and Zach Mummert.

The loss ended the best season in Patriot history as the team set records for regular-season and overall victories, finishing at 15-4. Their sectional title was just the third in school history.[[In-content Ad]]