Two teams who have had contrasting results this girls tennis season met Friday in the third-place match of the Hoosier Hills Conference Tournament.
Jennings County came away with a 5-0 win against Columbus East to cap the best regular season in several years for the Panthers. They’ll take a 10-2 record into next week’s Bedford North Lawrence Sectional, where they have beaten each of the other teams in the field.
“It’s the best record we’ve had in a long time,” Jennings coach Deron Brown said. “Unfortunately, we lost a handful of matches due to rain, so who knows what those would have brought us. But definitely, only two losses at the end of the season is something rare for Jennings County.”
The Panthers didn’t need much time to post wins in four of the five spots Friday at East. Mia Silvey beat Bruna Carreria at No. 2 singles, and Grace McBride blanked Lilli Smith at No. 3 singles, both by 6-0, 6-0 scores.
Jennings’ Gabi Morin and Sophia Lucas topped Saya Hauser and Zoe White 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 doubles. Maddie McIntosh and Karmindy Lowman defeated Stefani Christopher and Luci Morales 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 doubles.
By the time those four matches were competed, the Panthers’ Kaydence Lowman and the Olympians’ Lauren Degner were just wrapping up their first set at No. 1 singles. Lowman eventually prevailed 6-3, 6-3.
“They knew pretty much what they needed to do, and all of them pretty much came out and did it,” Brown said. “Kaydence had a battle with Lauren. We want Kaydence to be battle tested, and Lauren provided the battle.”
“We’ve made a ton of improvements,” East coach Adam Ulrich added. “The girls have really played well. We had a long stretch of matches where we didn’t get a lot of practice time in, but the girls I think learned a lot through those matches. Some of them are fighting some soreness and things like that, and they still come out and they’re putting everything they’ve got into these matches.”
The Olympians (1-16) will compete in the Columbus North Sectional, which begins Wednesday. The tournament draw is Monday evening.
“We want to compete,” Ulrich said. “Every coach is going to tell you they want to peak at tournament time, and honestly, I think we are. I think we’ve played our best tennis and had our best practices the last week or so, which bodes well for us going into sectional. If we get a favorable draw, we can make a little bit of a run. That’s our hope.”
