Southmont needed to reverse the 4-1 setback they suffered last week at Parke Heritage when they faced the Wolves on Thursday afternoon for the IHSAA Sectional title at Crawfordsville.
Adam Cox put the Mounties up with a quick 6-3, 6-0 win over Evan James at No. 1 singles, and at times Southmont looked to be on the cusp of a third-straight sectional championship, but Parke Heritage prevailed with a 3-2 win to secure its first sectional title since 2018.
“We played very well at times, we just didn’t put enough of it together,” Southmont coach Nathan Poynter said. “We served better, we just didn’t put it together for long enough. At periods we actually dominated for short periods. When you start and get up a little bit and then all the sudden it looked like we let up a couple times, and you can’t let up at all.”
Down 1-0 at No. 1 doubles, Mason Hall and Caden Jones rallied to win the second set 6-2 and led 2-1 in the third set, but ultimately fell to Max Dowd and Garrett McCalister 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. The duo of Chayce Howell and Harrison Haddock fell 6-1, 7-6(4) at No. 2 doubles, while Luke Tesmer fell 6-1, 6-0 to Joel Gooch at No. 2 singles.
Southmont’s second win came from sophomore Hayden Hess at No. 3 singles — beating Mason Bowsher 6-4, 6-7(2), (10) in a super tiebreaker.
“They didn’t lose to a bad team,” Poynter said. “It’s going to hurt for a little while, and they’re going to be a little frustrated, but maybe it will drive them next year and we can have another run.”
Southmont will return all seven varsity players next season. Cox advances in the individual portion of the tournament, with an opponent TBD.
