So far, so good

HARTFORD CITY — Dave Cramer expected 2023 to be a rebuilding year.

His team’s season opener suggested otherwise.

The Jay County High School girls tennis team traveled to Blackford and handed the host Bruins a 4-1 loss in their season opener Tuesday.

Junior Maggie Dillon got the party started for the Patriots, making quick work of the No. 3 singles match. She was able to take down Blackford’s Jaelyn McCaffery with the minimum games necessary, sweeping McCaffery 6-0, 0-6.

The Patriots won their second match thanks to sophomores Meredith Dirksen and Sophie Sprunger. The duo won their No. 2 doubles match against Blackford’s Lilly Leech and Loralie Hile, both sets finishing 6-1. It was the first tennis match either player had competed in, much less varsity match.

“I was nervous at the start, but playing with Meredith it was OK,” Sprunger said. “Something we’ve had to work on is sharing the ball and calling it. It has gotten better from when we started. I thought we could do it.”

Sprunger had high praise for her partner.

“Meredith can play forward and back really well so that helps us out a lot,” she said. “I need her a lot. … I hope that we can keep our spot and keep doing well playing together.”

Cramer, who in the preseason said he expected 2023 to be a “total rebuilding year” after losing four seniors from the 2022 squad, attributed the duo’s success to their composure, intelligence and athleticism, saying that even though it was their first match that a combination of those three qualities can make a big difference.

With two wins in the books, it became a race between No. 1 singles player Brenna Haines and the No. 1 doubles pair of twins Kaylee and Melana Zimmerman to see who would clinch the team victory.

The Zimmermans were able to secure their win first, taking down sophomore Allyson Henderson and freshman Jessica Brinkerhoff. They won the first set 6-0. A volley from Kaylee Zimmerman dropped in front of Blackford’s duo to end the second set 6-1 and win the match for the team.

“Overall it went pretty well,” Kaylee Zimmerman said. “We had some bumps in the road but as the season goes on I think we will work out those little kinks.”

It didn’t take long for Haines to follow the twins and win a fourth match for the Patriots. She took down sophomore Meeka Stalker in two sets, both with a score of 6-1.

Cramer said it was good to see players other than his returning starters find some early success.

“I’m pretty happy with it, being it was our first match,” Cramer said. “Our No. 1 doubles, they are going to carry us and Brenna Haines is going to carry us this year. They are the ones we are going to have to depend on.

“To just get somebody else to come through is what we need. Maggie played a real good match here, she took that kid out pretty quick.”

Jay County’s Brenna Bailey started strong against Chloe Wicker at No. 2 singles, winning the first set 6-2.

It wasn’t such smooth sailing from their

Bailey and Wicker traded games in the second set with multiple ties and lead changes, ultimately tying at 6-6 to force a tiebreaker.

Each player went on her own 3-0 run before Wicker finally broke through to win 7-5 and force a super tiebreaker in place of a third set.

After falling behind 4-3, Bailey was able to rattle off five straight points on hitting mistakes from Wicker to take a four-point lead, but started to tire out.

Wicker fought back, from an 8-4 deficit to win the super tiebreaker and the match with six unanswered points. The final shot came from Bailey who hit a backhand a little bit too hard, landing the ball out of play.

While the team came up just short of a sweep, Cramer and his team saw the match overall as a good start to the season.

“I feel like we can go up from here,” Melana Zimmerman said. “If we can win one, we can win Thursday's match and Saturday's match. This is just one of the stepping stones.”