SEYMOUR — Despite a three-set thriller on Court 5, the Columbus East boys tennis team couldn’t snag a point Thursday.
The Olympians were blanked 5-0 by Hoosier Hills Conference foe Seymour.
Seymour’s No. 2 doubles tandem of Brandon Hubbard and Trey Hohenstreiter went the distance with East’s Bryce Buening and Caige Comstock. After dropping the first set 6-3, Hubbard and Hohenstreiter stormed back to claim the second 7-5.
In a third-set super tiebreaker, Hubbard and Hohenstreiter built a 4-1 lead. However, the Olympians came back to tie it at 7-7. The Owls broke and held a pair of serves from Hohenstreiter to win the next three points and the match.
“The biggest difference was the health of Bryce (in the third set),” East coach Matt Malinsky said. “I think, in the first set, he was feeling fine. He has been battling an arm injury the last week or so. As the match went on, he couldn’t do as much because it was hurting every time he hit the ball.”
At No. 1 doubles, the Owls’ team of Will Rineheart and Sam Schmidt defeated Pranav Kumar and Luke Miller 6-1, 6-2.
In singles, Seymour (6-4) made quick work of the Olympians (2-9). Ty McCory topped East’s Jackson Stevens 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, Adam Berry bested Nathan Hatchett 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 singles and Isaac Hardin claimed No. 3 singles over Jalen Pleak 6-3, 6-1.
Despite the loss, Malinsky liked Pleak’s performance.
“I think Jalen’s performance was most impressive,” Malinsky said. “He lost handily — as far as the score goes — but I think he played a guy he might not have gotten a single game off of a month ago. He has come a long way. He was moving nicely and getting a lot of balls back. It was a good effort from him.”
Malinsky said the team needs to clean up some errors heading into next week’s HHC Tournament.
“I think we need to cut out some of the sloppy errors,” Malinsky said. “We had too many tonight and the past several matches. I think we’re hitting well. It’s just the points aren’t ending the way we want them to after several good shots. We need to clean up those errors, and I think we will put ourselves in a better position to win more matches.”
