Sectional streak sustained

Coming into the season, there were a lot of question marks surrounding the Patriots.

Coach Donald Gillespie had confidence in Eli Dirksen, and didn’t know what else he was going to have outside of him.

He had two seniors who never previously made the varsity squad, two freshmen, one of which hadn’t picked up a racket competitively prior to the first day of practice, another senior that hasn’t played since junior high and another senior who picked up the sport brand new.

The inexperienced squad trailed the Indians 2-1.

Kolton Mills’ return went long, giving Gabe Pinkerton the No. 3 singles match to pull even. Immediately, Pinkerton turned around to see where No. 1 doubles duo Kadyn Carpenter and Alex Miller were at. As he saw the freshman walking toward the net to shake their opponents hands, he belted out a “Let’s go!”

From there, the party started for the Patriots.

The host Jay County High School boys tennis team pulled off a 3-2 victory over the Union City Indians to claim the IHSAA Sectional 53 title for the third straight season.

“I’m very proud of these young men,” said JCHS coach Donald Gillespie. “I’m very excited for Jay County, because, when you return one player and people said ‘No way’ (they win a sectional). My old (players) back there; (Sam) Myers, (Abraham) Dirksen, they said ‘There’s no way.’ They said last year they would bet against me.”

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Jay County boys tennis sectional championship vs. Union City (10/3/2024)

While the two recent Jay County graduates didn’t have faith in the 2024 lineup, Eli Dirksen, Abraham’s cousin, set getting his third sectional title as his No. 1 goal of the season.

The lone returner did his job, quickly putting down Brennan Hoggatt 6-1, 6-1 in the No. 1 singles contest for his 15th consecutive win of the season. He nearly took the second set in the minimum number of games, but dropped the sixth. He bounced back with a dominant victory in the seventh that featured a hard backhand into Hoggatt’s racket, an error and a double fault by the UCHS senior and one final hard volley from Dirksen.

“I had a lot of confidence going into it with the streak,” Dirksen said. “I went into it like I do any other match. … This really makes me proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish.”

Nearly 15 minutes after Dirksen took down Hoggatt, the Patriots (9-10) lost a pair of points to swing the match in Union City’s favor. Blake Kahlig and Carter Wellman let the No. 2 doubles match slip away 6-3, 6-2 to Levi Clark and Keegan Livingston, while Tucker Griffin couldn’t overcome Jacob Thornburg in a 6-4, 6-2 loss.

Hoggatt and Thornburg started the year as Union City’s No. 1 doubles duo, but in the effort to take the sectional title away from Jay County, it switched them out, bumping Mills down to No. 3 singles, moving Anthony Wyatt from singles to No. 1 doubles along with Luis Nieto and moving Livingston to the doubles as well.

Despite playing against the former No. 1 singles player, Pinkerton came out strong in the No. 3 contest. The first-year varsity senior cruised to a 6-1 win in the first set and got out to a 4-2 lead in the second.

“I played confident,” Pinkerton said. “I knew this guy used to play No. 1. That didn’t mean anything.

“Just keeping that thought of, ‘Hey this is there No. 1. Is this it? Come on, I’ve got this.’ Just keep hyping myself up the whole time.”

Mills claimed the seventh game of the set to pull within one game, before Pinkerton re-established control.

The JCHS senior focused on playing safe and just getting the ball over the net and onto the court to secure the win. He almost let that slip in the ninth game as he opened with a forehand that Mills attempted to volley but failed followed by his own forehand going long and two doubles faults to fall behind 40-15. Two strong serves led to Mills returning the ball long to even things up at deuce.

Another pair of deep balls from Mills clinched Jay County its second point.

In the seconds following the final point, Pinkerton stared absently at the net as he processed the victory. When walking to shake Mills’ hand at the net, he looked back to check in on Carpenter and Miller’s match, knowing it would be the deciding factor.

Seeing the freshmen start approaching the net at the same time as him elicited a shout from the senior.

“As we switched over, I was like looking over there,” Pinkerton said. “They were up but I don’t know by how much. They’re going to win — they better win — because I know my match counts and their match counts. We have to win both of these.

“I just shook his hand and was kind of thinking nothing. But then I looked over, I’m like, ‘Wait they won. We won!’”

Carpenter and Miller beat Nieto and Wyatt 6-3, 6-3 nearly simultaneously as Pinkerton downed Mills. Gillespie said that their complimentary play style — Carpenter with a strong forehand and Miller with a good net game and backhand — helped lift them to victory.

The duo, along with Dirksen, won both sectional matches, keeping their individual postseason hopes alive as well. Winchester’s Foster Kratoska and Aiden Mendenhall also qualified for the individual sectional as the Golden Falcons fell to the Indians 3-2 on Wednesday.

The Patriots will have a tall task ahead of them, as they will take on the winner of either the Delta, Elwood or Noblesville sectional at Noblesville on Oct. 8.

“Realistically, it’s going to be hard,” Gillespie said, noting the Noblesville regional will produce a ranked opponent and the strength of Delta. “Part of that’s in our mind. You know the kids, ‘Oh, we play Delta.’ I’ve got to get them over that and get through that. When I started this job four years ago, my goal was not sectionals. It was to get a regional.

“We’ve gotta build and I’ve got the kids coming, so we’ll see.”