Even in a match where his team knew its fate, Fountain Central boys’ tennis coach Chris Webb coached until the final point.
That’s how much seniors Carson Eberly, Jacob and Sawyer Keeling, Cody Linville, Brent Myers, and CJ Yager meant to him.
And they laid it all out on the court from the first day of practice as freshmen in 2017, until Wednesday night when they fell 5-0 to Terre Haute South in the IHSAA Regional final at Crawfordsville.
“I was able to ask each one of them after their match ‘do you feel like you got the most out of you,” Webb said. “Was there ever a day in any of your seasons, where you felt like you didn’t give your all and you felt like you could have gotten better?’ and every single of one of them looked me in the eye and said ‘no I got the most out of my ability,’ and I believe them. They put their all into every single day and made themselves a great team.”
The senior group helped the Mustangs to four-straight sectional titles before their careers came to a close against the Braves.
Jacob Keeling and Yager battled at No. 1 doubles against Cameron Faro and Jonathan Stadler, winning the first set 6-3, before falling 3-6, 6-1, 10-5 (super tiebreaker).
“I’m really proud of our one doubles team, proud of all spots, but especially one doubles capturing that first set,” Webb said. “They didn’t come out intimidated. They came out ready to play and I feel like we were able to execute early on, we kept better depth, we were able to get plugged in at the net. I don’t know if we kept them by or surprise or what, but they were definitely ready from the first ball.”
Eberly fell to Canaan Seller 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 singles, while Linville lost to Matthew Roberts 6-0, 6-2 in the No. 2 spot, and Sawyer Keeling lost to Caleb Morris 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 singles.
The duo of Myers and Brayden Prickett lost 6-0, 6-0 to Walker Forsythe and Stephen Kallubhavi 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 doubles.
Fountain Central ends the season 14-3.
