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Tiger Cubs take two from Northview in boys tennis
On Tuesday, the Greencastle boys' tennis team got a look at one of its sectional opponent when it faced Northview and from the outcome, they liked what they saw. The Tiger Cubs were able to come away with two big wins, taking both the No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles matches against the Knights.
The Knights have won the past five tennis sectionals, so to pick up a win, let alone two wins, is something to celebrate.
Greencastle's No. 1 singles player Landon Miller continued his strong play this season against Northview's Cole Watts. Miller was able to withstand Watts' big first serve and force him into multiple errors, which he capitalized on.
Miller jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set and stood strong when Watts pushed back to close the gap to 3-2. From there it was all Miller, as he won the remaining games in the set to win 6-2. In the second set, Miller had no intention of letting up the pressure.
Once again it was a game of back and forth early on, but Miller was able to power past Watts for the win. The second set was a carbon copy of the first, with Miller holding off Watts after he cut his lead to 3-2 and winning the remaining four games to win the match 6-2 and 6-2.
"That's the best I've seen Landon play," GHS head coach Brad Key said. "It was great. Northview's a good team and we gave them a battle out there today. We get to see them in a couple weeks at sectional so that's something to shoot for.
"I told them a couple weeks ago, our record's not great, but we're not a joke and today it showed we can play with those types of guys. It was good tennis today. If we get our No. 2 and No. 3 around, who knows what could happen," he added.
The excitement for the Tiger Cubs only intensified during the No. 1 doubles match as A.J. Gerard and Cy Spencer won in dramatic fashion, defeating Northview's Dillon Reynolds and Skyler Holifield.
Gerard and Spencer dropped the first set 6-4, but roared back in the second set to win easily 6-1 to set up a super tiebreaker showdown. In the tiebreaker, both squads had their chances to take the match, but never were able to put it away. With the remaining matches finished, the crowd converged on the No. 1 doubles match to watch the action.
In the end, Gerard and Spencer were too much for Reynold and Holifield and came away with a 22-20 win in the tiebreaker to win the match.
"That was a whole lot of fun," Key confessed. "We kind of mixed up the lineup today. That's the first time A.J. and Cy have played together. They talked about it before and last year and teamed well. Cy has been playing No. 3 singles and he's an intense person and I knew he could bring up A.J. and tonight watching them play was a lot of fun.
"They were slapping and giving out high five and cheering for each other and that's what you want to see as a coach," Key said
The Tiger Cubs struggled in its remaining matches. No. 2 singles player Lee Hayes had a tough time finding an answer for Northview's Bryce Britton's big first serve, falling 6-1 and 6-0. No. 3 singles player Kaden Faust also lost in straight sets to Garrett Baysinger 6-1 and 6-1.
The No. 2 doubles team of Alex Asbell and Jason Ummel fell in straight sets to Northview's Alec Coughanowr and Devin Clark 6-1 and 6-0
Greencastle will travel to North Montgomery Thursday at 5 p.m.
At Greencastle
Northview 3, Greencastle 2
Singles
No. 1: Miller (GHS) def. Watts (N) 6-2, 6-2
No. 2: Britton (N) def. Hayes (GHS) 6-1, 6-0
No. 3 Baysinger (N) def. Faust (GHS) 6-1, 6-1
Doubles
No. 1: Gerard/Spencer (GHS) def. Holifield/Reynolds 4-6, 6-1, 22-20
No. 2: Coughanowr/Clark (N) def. Asbell/Ummel (GHS) 6-1, 6-0