Sectional supremacy

The Patriots have now seen all three potential sectional opponents.

First they took down the Indians 4-1, only dropping the No. 1 doubles contest to a power pair.

When they traveled to face the Rebels, a tiebreaker kept the hopes of a sweep alive, but the super-tiebreaker resulted in a No. 2 singles loss for the Patriots to repeat the 4-1 mark.

Finally, against the Golden Falcons, the Patriots had to work for it, but they escaped with a third win.

The Jay County High School boys tennis team won a pair of close matches to beat the Winchester Golden Falcons 3-2 on Thursday to finish the regular-season sweep of the Sectional 53 opponents.

“I was glad we could win on senior night,” said JCHS coach Donald Gillespie. “We pulled it out tonight. It wasn’t easy.

“We’ve got next week, which is a really good week for us. We’ve got five matches with varied competition … so great competition for where I need these kids to be. They can learn some, they can win some and they can get beat some. And that’s alright as long as we’re getting better.”

Eli Dirksen never gave Jayden Beeson much of a shot in the No. 1 singles match. The Jay County (6-9) senior jumped out early, winning the first game in just four points.

It ultimately took Dirksen 40 minutes to dismantle the Winchester (9-7) junior 6-0, 6-1 to pick up his 11th consecutive win of the season.

The other two Patriot points came with more contestion.

Blake Kahlig and Carter Wellman dropped the first three games of the No. 2 doubles match to Rogan Auker and Gabe Overton before taking the next six.

Following up the first-set comeback, they traded games with the Winchester duo to meet at 6-6, forcing a tiebreaker. Similar to how the JCHS seniors traded games in with Auker and Overton in the second set, the pairs traded points in the tiebreaker. A Wellman forehand that wound up in the net gave the Golden Falcons match point at 6-5, but they let it slip away.

    Blake Kahlig of Jay County swings his forehand during the No. 2 doubles match Thursday against Winchester. Seniors Kahlig and Carter Wellman took down Rogan Auker and Gabe Overton 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) to secure the second point for JCHS. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)
  

Kahlig and Wellman took the final three points with an Overton forehand that went wide left, a Kahlig ace and a return by Kahlig that Overton tried to volley in defense but it flew directly right off of his racket.

“They should be confident a little bit,” Gillespie said. “I wanted them to win tonight, I wanted them to win in two sets. I’ve got one new one – Carter – and Blake is first (year) on varsity. So, winning  helps.”

With a 2-1 lead – Cooper Hummel claimed a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Tucker Griffin in the No.2 singles match – and the No. 1 doubles getting down early in the third set, Gillespie needed to look to No. 3 singles player Gabe Pinkerton for the third point.

The JCHS senior edged out Jacob Rheinhart 7-5 in the first set, which included multiple games that swayed back-and-forth with multiple deuces.

Pinkerton worked a 5-2 advantage in the second set, but Rheinhart crept his way back into the match.

In the eighth game, Rheinhart managed to get Pinkerton to send three forehands into the net. The WCHS sophomore took the ninth as well with a forehand that bounced out of Pinkerton’s reach, a whiff by Pinkerton and two forehands into the net.

Fatigue eventually caught up to Rheinhart, who had three double faults in the 10th game to help secure the 7-5, 6-4 victory for Pinkerton.

“It was really tiring, especially that first set, but we got the win and that’s what matters,” Pinkerton said. “I just stayed mentally in the match, not worrying about everything else. Going one point at a time and keeping my cool. If I hit a shot out, ‘Hey, I’ve got others to make it up.’ 

“Really, winning that first set gave me a lot of cushion. Then getting up 3-0 really gave me the cushion to to be like ‘Hey, if I hit a shot out, I’m OK.’”

The match ended with Foster Kratoska and Aiden Mendenhall claiming the No. 1 doubles contest over Kadyn Carpenter and Alex Miller 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.

While Jay County’s win over Winchester completed the regular season sweep of the sectional opponents, the Patriots don’t plan on taking the next two weeks lightly, as they prepare to face off with the Randolph County schools a second time in early October.

“I think you’re going to see five close matches in sectional, if we get to play them,” Gillespie said. “We may not, Union City beat them the other night 3-2. This is my fourth year going into sectional, I would think it’s wide open. Normally you could say they’re the team to beat or they are, but I don’t think anybody’s saying it.”