FORTVILLE — It took Mt. Vernon 30 years to get its first Hoosier Heritage Conference boys tennis title, it wasn’t about to give it up without a fight.
At Mt. Vernon High School Wednesday, the Marauders won their 13th straight conference match and downed previously-unbeaten Hancock County champion New Palestine 4-1.
Mt. Vernon improved to 12-4 overall and 6-0 in the HHC. They can become outright title holders again Monday at home in a dual with Delta (9-5, 5-1).
New Palestine dropped to 14-3 and 6-1, and can still be co-champions if Delta defeats Mt. Vernon next week. If that happens, it would be a three-way tie.
But, on Wednesday, Mt. Vernon took care of business with all four of its wins coming in straight sets. Its lone loss was at No. 1 singles where it was playing a sub, Carter Harrington, for injured starter Manny Downs.
“It’s extremely important,” Mt. Vernon coach Graham McMullen said of Wednesday’s win over the Dragons. “It’s important for the team. Manny in and out with injuries and we are trying to figure out what we’re going to do for the sectional — we’re at the tail end of the season — We’re trying to figure out if we can win with our team. Tonight, they showed that they could.”
New Pal’s Arjomand Khokhar defeated Harrington 6-0, 6-2 to get the Dragons out to a 1-0 lead, but the Marauders grabbed the next four.
Shortly after Khokhar’s win, Mt. Vernon’s No. 2 singles player Gavin Weaver defeated New Palestine’s Joey McPike 6-0, 6-3.
At No. 3 singles, Mt. Vernon’s Tate Cougill gave the Marauders a 2-1 lead with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Brady Torzewski.
A highly-anticipated match at No. 1 doubles went the Marauders way too.
The veteran doubles team of senior Max Orelup and junior Bryndan Wylie, who grabbed the team’s third and decisive point last year in a first-ever win over Delta to win the HHC title, came up clutch again by defeating New Palestine’s No. 1 team of seniors Moses Haynes and Max Havel 7-5, 6-3.
Haynes and Havel were coming off a county title and had lost only once all season, to a doubles team from state-ranked Whiteland.
“All of these positions were going to be tight,” McMullen added. “It’s one of those things they’ve known each other for so long and have played against each other. On paper, you look at it and New Pal at No. 1 doubles is a better team. Our guys were able to execute the game plan and just stayed positive and kept going after the ball. Kudos to Bryndan and Max.”
Mt. Vernon picked up its fourth win at No. 2 doubles with Ethan Erdos and Eli Muterspaugh defeating Andrew Hahn and Carson Rush 7-6 (5), 6-4.
A year ago, Mt. Vernon defeated Delta on the final day of the regular season to claim its first-ever HHC title. The conference was established in 1993.
Prior to Monday’s match with Delta, Mt. Vernon will have its Senior Day Saturday against West Lafayette at 10 a.m. New Palestine hosts its final regular-season match Thursday against Richmond.
The sectional draw is also Monday with the tournament to be played Wednesday and Thursday at Mt. Vernon High School.
“They wanted it more and we were flat. We’re going to correct that,” New Palestine coach Jean Graham said of Wednesday’s loss to the Marauders. “That’s on me, I didn’t have them ready to go. I thought they were ready to go. They were excited, but they didn’t play like they are capable. Hats off to Mt. Vernon, they came out and took it to us.”
