Keeping pace

By ANDREW BALKO

The Commercial Review

The Patriots have picked up the pace in recent weeks. They now hustle on and off the court during side changes. They will be ready and waiting on the service line to put pressure on their opponents to hurry up.

Ever since then, they’ve been picking up wins and getting through matches quickly.

The Jay County High School boys tennis team needed less than 50 minutes to finish off the Winchester Golden Falcons 5-0 in the opening round of the IHSAA Sectional 53 hosted by Jay County on Thursday.

“That's step number one,” JCHS coach Donald Gillespie said. “In the sectional, you want to win the first one of course, or you don’t get to play again.”

The win earned the Patriots a trip to the sectional championship at 11 a.m. today against Union City, which took down Randolph Southern 5-0. Jay County will also host the sectional championship.

The Patriots (11-8) previously met with the Golden Falcons on Sept. 4, when they also swept Winchester 5-0.

Gillespie was pleased with the Patriots’ focus and demeanor going into the match. Having already seen Winchester earlier, he challenged his players to come prepared to take care of business quickly rather than letting the match drag on.

The Patriots already had one leg up on Winchester because of a forfeit at the No. 3 singles position. Winchester did not have enough athletes to fill the position, giving Jay County the automatic win where Liam Garringer normally plays.

The last time the teams met, Abraham and Eli Dirksen swept the No. 1 and 2 singles matches. Eli Dirksen repeated that result with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Foster Kratoska. Abraham Dirksen, however, did slip up and let Cooper Hummel take a game from him in his 6-1, 6-0 victory in the No. 1 singles match.

He dropped the sixth game of the first set. After a pair of soft chops that Dirksen couldn’t run up on in time, Hummel hit a forehand that Dirksen couldn’t reach and won the game on a forehand that Dirksen hit too long.

After losing the game, he honed back in to rattle off seven straight to take the match.

“I wasn’t hitting them deep enough, so they were shallow and he would just dink them back over and I couldn’t get to them,” Abraham Dirksen said. “I started to keep the ball deep, then he was hitting a lot of them out on his own, so I didn't really have to do too much.”

The doubles pairs improved from the last time they faced Winchester. On Sept. 14, Isaac Miller and Luke Muhlenkamp surrendered three games to Rogan Auker and Aiden Mendenhall in the No. 2 doubles match. On Thursday, they only gave up two games as part of a 6-2, 6-0 victory.

In the No. 1 doubles match, Sam Myers and Gage Sims previously allowed the Golden Falcons to win eight games. They cleaned up their play for a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Jayden Beeson and Levi Hines in the second matchup.

“They had more aggression at the net,” Gillespie said. “I wanted to poach a little bit more. …

“On the changeovers we are moving our feet and not walking. I think it’s really lodged in their minds now that we need to play a little up tempo.”

Hines was able to find holes between Myers and Sims at times with quick volleys. Hines’ volleys and double faults when trying to serve aggressively was the Golden Falcons’ main source of points, but Myers and Sims held strong for the victory.

“I feel like we played a lot better than we did last time against them. I feel like our servers were great and volleying and placement was a lot better,” Myers said. “I really preach about keeping our composure, staying tall and strong, and keeping your head up. I feel like that is one of the most important things in sports.”

Now all that stands between the Patriots and a trip to Nobelsville for the regional tournament Tuesday is Union City. On Aug. 21, the Patriots pulled out a 3-2 win over the Indians.

A win today will secure the first back-to-back sectional titles for the Patriots since they won three straight from 2005 through ’07.

“I’m proud of these kids,” Gillespie said. “It's time to watch the Patriots maybe win another sectional back-to-back. This is something that kids have really worked hard on.”