FORTVILLE — In a match that included three three-setters and two other matches that were two-hours-plus in length, New Palestine prevailed with a 3-2 victory over host No. 29 Mt. Vernon (14-5) in the championship game of the Mt. Vernon Boys Tennis Sectional Thursday.
The Dragons (16-3) will move on to Tuesday’s Mt. Vernon Regional and will play the winner of the New Castle Sectional, which will be determined Friday when the host Trojans take on Shenandoah.
The sectional title is the Dragons first since 2020.
“This group is special,” New Palestine head coach Jean Graham said of her team that includes 11 seniors, six are varsity starters. “…I am so happy for the boys. They wanted this.”
In a match that would have won them the Hoosier Heritage Conference title last week, New Palestine lost 4-1 at Mt. Vernon. The Marauders went on to win the outright conference championship Monday with a victory over Delta.
“I didn’t want to put any pressure on them, but we wanted to fine-tune some things we were not doing well,” Graham said of the team’s work in between last week’s loss and Thursday’s sectional championship. “We spent three straight days of drills and where to put the ball and all that. They are intelligent kids and good listeners. We knew Mt. Vernon would be tough. We knew they’d be very tough and they were. We’re just elated [to win]. These boys have been working for this for four years.”
In Thursday’s rematch, two New Palestine positions, No. 1 doubles and No. 3 singles, avenged losses.
With Mt. Vernon leading 2-1, New Palestine’s No. 1 doubles team of Moses Haynes and Max Havel evened the match with a 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1 win over Max Orelup and Bryndan Wylie.
Less than 10 minutes after the doubles team tied it, the Dragons got the clincher at No. 3 singles from Brady Torzewski.
Torzewski won 7-5, 0-6, 6-4 over Tate Cougill.
Last week in the dual meet, Orelup/Wylie beat Haynes/Havel 7-5, 6-3 and Cougill beat Torzewski 6-4, 6-3.
“Not only last week, but we got smoked out here last year [by Greenfield] in the first round, smoked,” Havel said. “The year before, that wasn’t pretty either. It feels nice that the team came together. This was our goal, win the sectional and more. We’re almost finished.”
All the matches had their share of drama.
The No. 1 singles match marked the return of Mt. Vernon senior Manny Downs, who had missed much of the season due to an injury. Less than 100 percent, Downs was up 5-4 and serving for the second set before New Palestine’s Arjomand Khokar won the final three games to close out a 6-1, 7-5 victory. Khokhar played a four-hour match Wednesday in a tough three-set loss to Greenfield-Central’s Nathan Roberts.
With Khokar’s win over Downs, two hours after the championship match had started, the Dragons had a 1-0 lead.
The lead didn’t last long, just two minutes after the No. 1 singles players walked off the court, Mt. Vernon’s Gavin Weaver had completed a three-set win at No. 2 singles over New Palestine’s Joey McPike, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Shortly after Weaver’s win, Mt. Vernon’s No. 2 doubles team of Ethan Erdos and Eli Muterspaugh gave the Marauders a 2-1 lead after defeating New Palestine’s Andrew Hahn and Carson Rush for the second straight time in two very competitive sets. They won 7-5, 6-4 Thursday after picking up a 7-6 (5), 6-4 win last week.
At No. 1 doubles, Haynes and Havel nearly ended it in two sets. Up 5-4 in the second, Haynes was serving for the match, but the Marauders broke serve, forced a tiebreaker and later a third set.
“The first time we didn’t have the intensity level between both of us,” Haynes said of last week’s match against Mt. Vernon. “We were positive throughout it, but we kind of let ourselves get negative. To be able to win [Thursday] we knew we had to be positive and keep our intensity up the whole match. Even after losing that second set it was a little bit nerve-racking, but I was like, ‘We’ve got it. Let’s play our best tennis. Let’s do it.’”
The third set was all Dragons. Havel won his serve. The Dragons broke Orelup and, on Haynes’ serve, took a 3-0 lead. Wylie was up 40-love when New Palestine battled back and got its second break of the set to take a commanding 4-0 lead. Havel made it 5-0 after his serve.
“Let’s find something inside ourselves to win this match,” Haynes continued on his conversation with his teammate after the second-set loss. “After we got that first break I thought we found it. At 3-0, we were down love-40 and I told [Havel] ‘If we make something happen, this is the match right here. This is the match if we can make something happen.’
“We played simple and we did the right things and it worked out.”
It came down to No. 3 singles, and every time it appeared Torzewski or Cougill had the advantage the other player battled back.
After being bageled in the second set, Torzewski, who was undefeated at No. 3 singles last season, jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third. Cougill broke back to put the set back on serve at 4-4. Torzewski won his serve to make it 5-4 and then broke Cougill to win the match.
I knew following [Wednesday’s win over Greenfield-Central], I was going to be a key part. I don’t know if I fully accepted it yet, wanting that pressure, but, yea, I’m glad it came down to me,” Torzewski said. “Last year I had a ton of three-set matches so I was familiar with it. I was trying to keep level-headed and that second set he killed me, I didn’t get a game. I had to get a mental reset and attack his weaknesses.”
It was the fourth time Torzewski and Cougill had played. Cougill won two years ago and Torzewski won last year’s match. Torzewski’s win on Thursday gave them a split this season.
3-0 [in the third set] was great, but you can’t get cocky,” Torzewski added. “I knew that in the first set when I got out to a 2-0 lead [and he tied it]. I knew he was capable of coming back and he did. I had to keep my energy up, especially when he got those games back. I just kept my energy, kept level-headed and it all worked out.”
The first three matches were all around two hours long. The No. 1 doubles contest was just over 2 1/2 hours long and Torzewski and Cougill finished up around 10 minutes after Haynes and Havel tied it up 2-2.
“It means a lot [to win the sectional],” Torzewski said. “We knew coming in here we were going to have to play our best tennis. We were kind of the underdogs. … [Mt. Vernon] is a great team. We knew we had to play our best tennis and we did. We came out and performed.”
“We talked [Wednesday] and No. 2, No. 3 and No. 1 [doubles], those were going to be the spots to battle on and those were the ones that went three sets,” Mt. Vernon coach Graham McMullen said. “Manny gave it a good shot. Forty-percent Manny takes Arjomand to a tough second set and had some set points and just couldn’t pull it out. But across the board, we knew it was going to be tough. We came out a tad flat, not anything like [Wednesday], but at the end of the day, they won it. They took it from us. I can’t be upset with the effort out here. They did their best.”
