By Rick Teverbaugh
May 15, 2008 12:05 am
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As the Indiana High School Athletic Association tennis sectionals get under way this week, the Highland Scots have more on the line than ever before.
The Scots, who posted a 20-0 regular season, will put that perfect mark on the line today at 4:30 p.m. when they face the Frankton Eagles on the Highland courts. At the same time, Anderson will face Elwood on the Southside Sports Complex courts.
The championship match will be held at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
The perfect record wasn’t a big surprise to Highland coach Jim Hostetler.
“I thought we’d be pretty close,” he said. “We lost the Columbus tourney, and that sometimes was a loss, but I had everybody coming back and we were 19-4 the year before.”
The top player back was No. 1 singles player Alex Hammel, No. 2 Mercy Scott and No. 3 Abby Beard. Scott suffered a knee injury a few weeks back and had to retire from a match against Frankton, but she has returned to the fray with no problem.
“We played a tournament on Saturday, and then she played all day on Sunday,” said Hostetler. “It got inflamed. She tweaked it a little bit, but she’s fine now.”
Highland’s consistent sectional nemesis has been Anderson, but the Scots have won that matchup 5-0 the last two times the teams crossed paths. Now the Indians are without their four-year No. 1 player Alisha Cummings, who quit the team.
Still, Hostetler isn’t taking anything for granted.
“If we get to play Anderson, they’re still going to be a tough team,” he said. “They’ve moved Meaghan Ellis up to No. 1 and loaded up their doubles teams. With that lineup, they might be even tougher than when they had Alisha. This wouldn’t be a gimme match.”
To get that far, the Scots must get past the Eagles today.
“(Frankton coach) Ginger’s (Thomas) done a great job with that team,” Hostetler said. “We won’t go in over confident.”
At Alexandria, Matt DeVault’s Tigers have fashioned a 15-4 record and a third straight Central Indiana Conference championship. But the Tigers also have a tall test at 4:30 p.m. today at the Delta Sectional against the host Golden Eagles.
For the first time in many years, the perennial state contending Eagles aren’t ranked in the state poll. “They’ve won several years,” DeVault said. “They’re still pretty good. We played many of the same teams they have, and our scores have been comparable. They’re ranked sixth in the district and we’re ranked seventh.”
The Tigers have been bolstered by the play of No. 1 singles player Melissa Montgomery and others such as Abbe Cox, Rachael Sayre, Bri Foster and Hanna Davis.
“We’re hitting our stride,” said DeVault. “In the first half, we moved some players around. I think we’re ready.”
At Mount Vernon, Lapel has a bye today and will play at 4:30 p.m. Friday against the winner of the Mount Vernon vs. New Palestine match.
The Bulldogs lost nine seniors going into this year but have gotten many wins at the top two singles positions from Jill Gentry and JoJo Gentry.
“The twins have a good chance,” said Lapel coach John Mendenhall. “Hopefully we can get another point somewhere along the line.”
Pendleton Heights is in that same sectional and will play today at 4:30 p.m. against Greenfield. If the Arabians win that match, they would play at 4:30 p.m. Friday against Eastern Hancock. The title game will be at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Shenandoah will play at New Castle at 4:30 p.m. today against the winner of Wednesday’s contest between Tri and the host Trojans. The Raiders will be going for their third straight sectional crown under the guidance of coach John Rhodes.
Shenandoah has beaten every team in the sectional field, but Rhodes stopped short of saying it were the team to beat.
“I wouldn’t say that,” he laughed. “But we are playing very well right now.” Junior Lauren Wilson tops the Raiders as the No. 1 singles player. The New Castle championship will be Friday at 4:30 p.m.
Madison-Grant plays in the Marion Sectional and will wait until 4:30 p.m. Friday before taking on Blackford. The championship there will be contested at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Regionals will be held Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.
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