After two days of mother nature causing some scheduling changes, the boys tennis sectional finally got underway on Thursday at Crawfordsville. The new-look sectional which features Western Boone, North Montgomery, Crawfordsville, Southmont, and Lebanon saw the Chargers and the SAC champion Tigers battle in the lone match on Thursday.
Lebanon came away with a 5-0 win over the Chargers to advance to Friday’s semi-final’s against fellow Boone County rival Western Boone. At one singles Lebanon’s Matthew Barber defeated North Montgomery’s Alex Chapman 6-1, 6-2. The Chargers Beckett Martin fell to Owen Bigler 6-0, 6-0 at two singles with Cade Cole at three singles being defeated by Wesley Byrd 6-0, 6-1. The one doubles team of Owen Utterback and Nate McCoy were bested by Reece Guyman and Jack Ferrell 6-4, 6-1 while Austin Biddle and Dane Elliott fell at two doubles to Lebanon’s Owen and Ian Kincade 6-3, 6-1.
“Lebanon won the conference and the scores might not indicate it, but we had some competitive matches tonight,” Charger coach Steve Baldwin said. “Both doubles spots played hard and this year for Owen and Nate three of their four conference losses came in three sets. I’m proud of the way our guys competed still in their final match of the season.”
The Chargers do graduate three seniors in Chapman, Utterback, and McCoy. Baldwin took the time after the match to note how all three of them have provided the Chargers with great leadership throughout the course of the season.
“Alex is kind of a quiet leader for us but still does an amazing job for us at one singles,” Baldwin said. “Nate and Owen really stepped up to the plate when we needed them to go along with providing that leadership role alongside Alex. Their game improved quite a bit from the start of the summer until now. I’m really also proud of the level of growth that Cade has shown at three singles. He never picked up a racquet before and he’s definitely the most improved on our team and I’d argue maybe the entire conference. We’ll be expecting him to be that leader for us next year alongside Beckett.”
As well as Lebanon taking on Western Boone, Friday’s semi-finals will also see the other two Montgomery County teams battle against each other when Crawfordsville and Southmont fight for a spot in the sectional title game. The championship match is scheduled for Saturday back at CHS with a 10:30 a.m. start.
Mustangs punch ticket to sectional final.
Fountain Central also had to wait a day to open up sectional play. The Mustangs, like the Athenians hosted their four-team sectional which includes Parke Heritage, Covington, and South Vermillion. The Mustangs took on the Wildcats in the opening round and came away with a 5-0 win to punch their ticket to tomorrow’s sectional championship.
Gabe McCollum picked up a 6-1, 6-2 win for FC over South Vermillion’s Brayson Shoults. Skyler Hoagland took care of Walt Beardsley 6-0, 6-0 at two singles while Ayden Batchelor defeated Zane Matherly 6-0, 6-0 at three singles. The one doubles duo for FC of Noah Armstrong and Koby Wolf defeated Landon Downs and Cael Buddle 6-4, 6-3 while Wes Jackson and Brayden Prickett were 6-1, 6-0 winners over Coleman Rice and Luke Guinn at two doubles.
FC improves to 10-2 on the season and will take on Parke Heritage tomorrow at FC for the sectional title.
