GREENFIELD — Up 2-1 against Hancock County rival Greenfield-Central, Mt. Vernon, literally, got the breaks it needed.
Key breaks of serve helped the Marauder boys tennis team remain unbeaten in Hoosier Heritage Conference matches with a 4-1 victory over the host Cougars Tuesday.
Mt. Vernon is 7-1 overall and 3-0 in the HHC. Greenfield-Central dropped to 7-3 and 1-3.
Greenfield-Central got its lone win early.
No. 1 singles player Nathan Roberts defeated Mt. Vernon’s Carter Harrington, subbing for the injured Manny Downs, 6-0, 6-0.
The Marauders evened it 1-1 with a straight set win at No. 1 doubles from Bryndan Wylie and Max Orelup. They defeated Kasen Jarnecke and Nolan Frye 6-2, 6-1.
At No. 2 doubles, Mt. Vernon added another straight set victory and increased its lead to 2-1 with Eli Muterspaugh and Ethan Erdos downing Ethan Ortwein and Jacob Welch 6-3, 6-2.
Mt. Vernon had the lead but the remaining singles matches were far from over.
At No. 2 singles, Mt. Vernon’s Gavin Weaver won the first set 6-4, but was down a break in the second against unbeaten Alex Michalek.
At No. 3 singles, Greenfield-Central’s Luke Sitzman won the opener 6-3 over Mt. Vernon’s Tate Cougill.
After having his service broke when he was serving for the second set, Cougill broke back and then won his serve for a 7-5 second-set win, forcing a third.
With Michalek up a break and serving for the second set, Weaver got the most crucial break of the match, putting them back on serve and giving him a chance to win the match in a tiebreaker.
Weaver went on to win the evening’s most competitive match 6-4, 7-6 after taking the tiebreaker 7-5. It gave Mt. Vernon its match-clinching third win.
“For Gavin, it was a huge confidence boost,” Mt. Vernon coach Graham McMullen said. “He walked off the court, and he was happy with the win, but he said, ‘I know what I need to work on and I know where I need to go from here.’ From going from No. 2 JV singles last season to working hard and getting all the way to No. 2 varsity singles that’s huge.”
At No. 3, Sitzman, leading 4-3 in the third set, had to injury default.
“Tate, going out and in the first set and kind of looking lost and then being able to figure it out and switch his game to whatever Lucas was throwing at him was massive,” McMullen said. “I hope everything is good with Lucas, but Tate staying out there and not beating himself and not having No. 2 singles beat himself when he went down 5-6, all of that was huge. … I’m very pleased with the night, a good start to the week.”
“I’m not disappointed. We were competitive across the board,” Greenfield-Central coach Michael Turpin said. “Alex had a very close match at No. 2 singles. At No. 3 singles, Luke was in control unfortunately he was cramping at the end and I’m not going to make someone play, especially when the match had been decided.”
There will most likely be some rematches Saturday when the two teams, along with New Palestine and Eastern Hancock, compete in the Hancock County Tournament at New Palestine High School. It’ll be the second meeting of a possible three on the season for some of the competition.
Greenfield-Central has already played New Palestine in a dual and the Dragons opened their season with a match against Eastern Hancock. In three weeks, all four schools will meet again at the Mt. Vernon Sectional.
”It was pretty much a toss up in several spots and [Saturday] will be very competitive. New Pal’s competitive. It should be a good tournament, a lot of good teams there,” Turpin said.
Both Mt. Vernon and Greenfield-Central will get some playing time in before the tournament. Mt. Vernon travels to No. 8 Guerin Catholic today and visits HHC foe Shelbyville Thursday. Greenfield-Central welcomes Knightstown Thursday.
