Patriots snap losing skid

Three weeks. Six matches. All losses.
But the streak is over.
Jay County High School’s boys tennis team snapped a six-match losing streak Monday with a 3-2 victory over the Blackford Bruins.
“We got one. It’s been a while,” said JCHS coach Scott Miller, whose team hosts Adams Central for senior night at 5 p.m. tonight. “I would love to say that we came into this match, we played really well, we had a good night and everybody did exactly what they were supposed to do, but I think as short as the tennis season is we’re reaching the dog days of the tennis season.”
The last victory for Jay County (2-7) was Aug. 24 against Union City. Since then, the Patriots have dropped matches to Alexandria, Mt. Vernon, Muncie Central, South Adams, Marion and Bluffton.
“Losing as many matches as we’ve lost and going up against the type of competition we’ve been going up against until this point, to no fault of their own, it is hard to get yourself mentally back into a tennis match.”
The Patriots got wins from Jay Houck at No. 2 singles, Garrett Rodgers at No. 3 singles and the No. 2 doubles team of Luke Weaver and Evan Van Cise.
Houck had a 4-0 lead in the first set against Quinn Blakley, and split the final four games for a 6-2 win. He won the second set 6-1 to give Jay County its first win of the evening.
Weaver and Van Cise defeated Cody Johnson and Evan Jennerjahn 6-3 in the first set after taking a 4-1 advantage. The Patriot tandem then won the second set 6-2.
It’s that No. 2 doubles team that Miller says is going to be an important piece for the Patriots to win back-to-back sectionals.
Jay County plays at Winchester on Thursday, and it does not face Randolph Southern in the regular season. Union City is the fourth team in the sectional the Patriots host Sept. 30.
“If we don’t win (both doubles matches) we don’t have a shot at winning sectional,” Miller said. “We have to win them both and then we have to hope we can steal a singles spot.
“At this point there is nothing more important to us than sectional. We are defending champions. We want to go into that playing our best tennis.”
At No. 3 singles, Rodgers took the opening set against Austin Martin easily, 6-1, but the Blackford junior put up a fight in the second. Still, Rodgers emerged with a 6-4 victory to secure the Patriots’ first win in three weeks.
Blackford’s victories came at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles, but both of them were marathon matches.
Scott Thompson trailed the first set against Clark 4-1, but rattled off four consecutive victories for a 5-4 lead. Clark broke Thompson’s serve to tie the set at five games apiece and nabbed the next game for a 6-5 advantage. Then it was Thompson’s turn to break Clark’s serve, sending it to a tiebreaker.
After Clark eked out a 7-5 in the tiebreaker to win the set, Thompson rallied in the second, taking a 4-0 lead and eventually winning 6-3 to force a third set.
The final set also went to a tiebreaker, and four consecutive Clark errors gave Thompson the match victory.
“Tough match for him,” Miller said. “Heartbreaker for a senior. He is running out of home matches.
At No. 1 doubles, Blackford’s Zac Tarr and Kerigan Reynard dropped the first set 6-2 but won the final two against Sok Vormohr and Peyton Heniser of Jay County, 6-4, 6-3.