LINDEN — It may not have been perfect tennis weather, but that didn’t stop Crawfordsville and North Montgomery girls tennis teams from squaring off on a sunny, yet windy evening out at North. The two teams agreed to move up the match from Friday due to the likelihood of rain. There was a slight breeze which is the norm out at North Montgomery but the two county rivals battled through it.
In the end Crawfordsville came away with a 5-0 sweep of the Chargers and once again claimed the county title and on a big night for CHS athletics, helped the Athenians capture the 2023-24 county chase championship.
At one singles Sam Rohr defeated Sydney Neideffer 6-0, 6-1. Two singles was won by Reagan Cox as she defeated Abigail Allen 6-0, 6-1. The most competitive match of the night came at three singles between Emily Weliver and Kate Merica. Weliver secured a back and forth set one 7-6 (7-0) and went one to win the second set 6-3. At one doubles Alayna Hall and Isla Steward defeated the Chargers Shayna Ratcliff and Reagan Little 6-2, 6-1. After winning the first set at two doubles 6-1, Crawfordsville’s Emma Buser and Amy Weliever got battle from the Chargers Caelyn Carpenter and Avery Gayler but held on to win the second set 6-4.
“Give credit to North because they have improved a ton from when we played them last year,” Crawfordsville coach Kara Amundson said. “We didn’t come into this match thinking anything was going to be a walk-through. North certainly made us work for every point, but I’m proud of our girls for coming through yet again.”
Charger coach Lori Guard sees the improvement in her squad too from a season ago. Sometimes the score in tennis doesn’t always reflect how close some of the matches are and that was the case on Wednesday.
“We fought a really tough team for many competitive points tonight,” Guard said. “I’m proud of my players because we’re still building in some areas. You look at Kate at three singles as a freshman and there’s so much potential for her and plenty of room to grow into a good player. She’s just very talented and athletic and is going to do some good things for us. Being new to the varsity lineup probably got a little into her head during that tie-break in the first set. Our two doubles team is brand new this year with Caelyn as another freshman and Avery. Getting those two to gel a little more as the season goes on will benefit us greatly.”
With the win the Athenians stay un-beaten in the Sagamore Conference with a 4-0 record. The next SAC matchup of the season is slated for Monday for the Athenians who will welcome a Danville team that looks to hand CHS its first SAC loss.
“We just have to make sure that our focus is on the match that’s right in front of us,” Amundson said. “We know if we play how we’re capable of we can go out and compete very well against anyone.”
North Montgomery returns to action on Thursday back at home where the Chargers host Frankfort.
