NEW PALESTINE — It was a close final score of 3-2, but Greenfield-Central took care of business early.
Two quick wins from the Cougars doubles teams got the visitors off to quick lead in Wednesday’s matchup of Hancock County and Hoosier Heritage Conference boys tennis rivals at New Palestine High School.
It was Greenfield-Central’s second HHC win in as many nights. The Cougars beat Delta 3-2 on Tuesday. They are 8-0 overall and 3-0 in the HHC.
New Palestine dropped to 2-4 and 0-2. Both of the Dragons conference losses are by 3-2 scores, they lost to Delta earlier. Three of their four losses are by 3-2 counts.
On Wednesday, Greenfield-Central’s doubles teams were off the courts early.
At No. 1, C.J. Michalek and Luke Sitzman defeated Max Havel and Joey McPike 6-0, 6-0. The team of Alex Michalek and Nathan Roberts followed with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Eli Sloan and Nick Parrett.
“Anytime someone starts like that and finishes that strong is huge,” Greenfield-Central coach Michael Turpin said. “Whether people admit it or not, they know what’s going on on the other courts. If you’re playing right next to No. 1 doubles and see they win 6-0, 6-0, that does take a toll. It’s huge for us, as a team, to see they came out and put it all out there right at the beginning.”
C.J. Michalek was a singles player last season. He and Sitzman are a new combo, playing only their eighth match together.
“He’s got a very strong serve. I love it, fun to play with,” Sitzman said of teaming with Michalek.
“I’m sure (getting the two early doubles wins) helped. It made (players) calmer, too, and took pressure off the singles players,” C.J. Michalek said.
It was a great start, but the match was hardly over.
New Palestine was up in two of three singles matches and the Dragons No. 1 player Moses Haynes, after losing the first set, was up 4-1 in the second against Chris Long.
Long, who beat Haynes 6-1 in the opening set, rallied to take a 5-4 lead in the second. Haynes broke Long’s serve to tie it, but the G-C senior broke Haynes right back and went on to get G-C its third win 6-1, 7-5.
“I slowed down a little bit at the start of the second set,” Long said. “I had to lock in and focus more. By hitting smarter shots I was able to come back.”
It was the second meeting between the two No. 1s. Haynes beat Long last season.
“I was definitely thinking about that going into today,” Long said.
It was a crucial comeback, as the Dragons won the remaining matches. At No. 2 singles, Arjomand Khokhar defeated Mateo Molanphy 6-3, 6-2.
In a back-and-forth match at No. 3 singles, New Pal’s Brady Torzewski defeated Caden Robertson 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
“Doubles had been playing well, not sure why we’re not playing well now. We’ve got to get a point out of doubles,” New Palestine coach Jean Graham said. “Singles are playing real well. Greenfield-Central has a really nice team and we had some good matches tonight. When you lose 3-2, it’s not like we got blown out. “
Greenfield-Central returns to action today against Morristown. New Palestine continues home HHC play today with a contest against Shelbyville.
