Up to .500

Six days prior to the Patriots’ matchup with the Indians, coach Donald Gillespie said he was looking for his doubles teams to be more aggressive and to control the game at the net.

After helping sweep the Norwell Knights for the first time since Gillespie took over the team, both doubles duos ran through the Indians to get the Patriots back to .500.

Jay County High School’s boys tennis team swept the sectional rival Union City Indians 5-0 on Monday with both doubles teams playing the cleanest matches of the day.

“It shows that we haven’t practiced (last week),” Gillespie said. “I didn’t think we played great tennis tonight, but no disrespect, but we didn’t play our game. … But I’m happy. A win’s a win over a sectional opponent of course.

“I was impressed with Union City. They lost a bunch of players too and they reloaded and (Charlie LaFuze) does a nice job with those kids so I’m impressed with where they are.”

    JCHS sophomore Kadyn Carpenter serves the ball during Monday’s win over Union City. Carpenter and Alex Miller won the No. 1 doubles match 6-1, 6-0. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)
  

Gabe Overton and Brock Wasson had the strongest day for the Patriots (3-3) as they swept Joseangel Perez-Contreras and Asa Vaughn 6-0, 6-0.

This is the duo’s first season together after Overton transferred in from Winchester Community and Wasson picked up a tennis racket for the first time. They have already built a 3-2 record with wins against Union City, Norwell and Madison-Grant.

In the No. 2 doubles duo’s losses against New Castle and Alexandria-Monroe, Gillespie noted a need to be more aggressive and control the match at the net. They did a better job of that Monday as both players shared time at the net. The duo seemed to be particularly successful when Overton patrolled the net as he hit multiple volleys that bounced over the Indians' heads.

“Net play is something that we need to work on a lot and we enforce it a lot in practices too,” Overton said.

“We’ve been told to just be more aggressive up there and just go for everything,” Wasson added.

While Overton has tennis experience, the duo are still looking to grow and continue with the success they have found early on in the season.

“(We should) definitely be aggressive and play a lot more offense," Overton said about what they learned from the match against UCHS. “We should be playing to win and not playing to not lose.”

“We need to keep building chemistry together,” Wasson added. “Know what we’re doing and know when it's time to switch.”

Kadyn Carpenter and Alex Miller finished the No. 1 doubles match six minutes after Overton and Wasson. The sole varsity returners took down Gabe Tapp and Cooper Woolston 6-1, 6-0 to earn the second point of the match.

The final game of the match ran long, hitting deuce four times but Miller kept the duo ahead nearly the entire time by returning Tapp’s serves down the left hand side of the court where Woolston’s racket couldn’t stop it with a volley and Tapp didn’t have the foot speed to get to it.

“I’ve really enjoyed watching (the doubles) more,” Gillespie said. “We’re not there yet … but we’re a lot more aggressive and I told them, ‘Doubles is all about who controls the net.’”

Paul Dirksen closed out the victory for Jay County as he beat Luis Nieto 6-1, 6-3 at the No. 1 singles position.

Henry Dirksen and Clark Wellman got caught playing a slower style of tennis at the No. 2 and 3 singles matches. As a result, Levi Clark had the closest match of the day with Henry Dirksen, but the JCHS freshmen pulled out the win 6-2, 7-5 and Wellman’s 6-3, 6-2 victory over Gabe Thomas lasted 1 hour, 45 minutes.

This is the first time the Patriots have been at .500 this early in the season since Gillespie took over as head coach in 2021.

“I don’t really worry about the records, I worry about the way my kids are coming through,” Gillespie said. “We’re still young … we’re athletic and I think we’re exciting to watch. There’s some things we’re not refined as a tennis team yet, but I think by the time we get near the end of the season if we’re not there it’s on the coach, but I think we’ll be there.”

Photo Gallery

Jay County boys tennis vs. Union City (8/25/2025)