LAPEL — An opening match loss to county foe New Palestine two and a half weeks ago has helped push Eastern Hancock’s boys tennis team to the level they’re currently playing.
Since the 4-1 loss to the Dragons, the Royals have reeled off six straight wins and have dropped just one point.
That lone dropped point came on Wednesday night at Lapel, but so did the team’s sixth straight win.
On the road, the Royals took down the Bulldogs — coming off winning the Madison County tournament this past Friday — 4-1.
“This one feels real good. We got it handed to us a couple of weeks ago against New Pal and that was really a driving force for us to start showing that we’re better than that match,” Eastern Hancock head coach Chris Zeilinga said. “We had this one circled because it’s a real measuring block for us, and the kids came out focused and ready to go.”
Getting the Royals off on the right foot early and setting the tone for the night was No. 1 singles player Luke Zeilinga.
In a match that lasted just over an hour, he defeated Lapel’s Hogan Bair 6-1, 6-1.
“I thought my one singles played really clean tonight and really smart,” coach Zeilinga said. “He moved the other guy around the court a lot, and I thought it was one of his better matches of the year.”
No. 3 singles player Josiah Swauger was nearly as quick picking up the second point for the Royals.
Against Lapel’s Quinn Wilkins, Swauger took the first set 6-3 and then jumped out to an early 5-2 lead in the second set before Wilkins stormed back.
After two straight games went to Wilkins, Swauger held serve for the final point to take the win 6-3, 6-4.
“Josiah played a really smart match too,” coach Zeilinga said. “He just kept the other kid out there as long as he could and waited for mistakes which was our gameplan.”
To seal the Eastern Hancock victory, the No. 2 doubles team of Bo Dixon and Jalen Helderbrand dominated their third and final set.
The pair took the opening set 6-2 but dropped the second 6-3 to force a third.
A more aggressive playing style led to a stress-free 6-0 win over Lapel’s Aidan Gooding and Bode McClintock.
“We wanted to stay a bit more aggressive,” coach Zeilinga said. “Our kids came out and started going after second serve returns a lot more and then we started taking control of the net. That was kind of the difference in the match.”
Following the win at No. 2 doubles, the No. 1 doubles team completed their comeback to pick up another point for the Royals.
The team of Myles Wennen and Luke Fletcher dropped the first set 6-4 before storming back for the three-set win.
They took the second set 6-2 and after the Bulldogs pair of Tyler Cash and Cam Novak grabbed a 5-4 lead in the final set, Wennen and Fletcher took three straight games for the 7-5 win.
“Myles has played a lot of doubles for us, but Luke is still getting used to how to play it,” Zeilinga said. “That third set, I really thought he played his best set of the year.”
The only dropped point of the night came at No. 2 singles, but it wasn’t an easy Lapel point.
Eastern Hancock’s Luke Schilling and Lapel’s Kaleb Barnett battled in a nearly three-hour match to close out the evening.
Barnett took the first set convincingly, 6-2, but Schilling responded with a 6-4 win before dropping the back-and-forth final set 6-4.
“Luke fought really hard. That other kid is a really talented player. We’ve seen him for several years now in some tournaments, so we knew how good of a player he was,” Zeilinga said. “We just kept the ball in the middle of the court a little too much, but I thought Luke played really well.”
The Royals will look to continue their winning streak Monday at Triton Central beginning at 5 p.m.
