GHS tennis advances to sectional final

Thursday, September 30, 2010
Landon Miller

BRAZIL -- The Greencastle boys' tennis team avenged its 4-1 loss to Owen Valley by defeating the Patriots 3-2 in the opening match of the Northview Sectional Wednesday.

The Tiger Cubs earned wins at No. 2 and 3 singles and at No. 2 doubles. An upbeat GHS head coach Bart Spencer was more than pleased following the match.

"We're excited," Spencer said. "That was fun. I thought it was going to be 3-2, but I didn't know who was going to win. I just kind of assumed, we just played them, and we lost 1-4, but one of the matches was a tie-breaker in three sets.

A.J. Gerard

No. 2 singles player Landon Miller defeated Gabe McHaley 6-4 and 6-4, with No. 3 singles player Joey Kass taking down David Deatrick 6-3 and 6-2.

The team of Kaden Faust and A.J. Gerard rallied from a first set loss to Hogan McHaley and Dillan Hege to win the match 2-6, 6-2 and 6-0.

Spencer loved the effort and play he received from his two singles winners and his No. 2 doubles team.

"Landon played a great game and Joey -- they just played their game and they won in two sets. Then two doubles got off to a slow start and got beat in the first set, then they finally got their heads up. And they said that too," Spencer said.

Spencer noted that something he saw when the teams battled the first time was the fact the Patriots had a tendency to not be able to rebound from adversity. That same scenario was apparent on Wednesday, and the Tiger Cubs took advantage of it.

"We kind of saw that team struggle when they started playing poorly and they struggled to get back on track," Spencer said. "Three years ago we started trying to build the program to try to get a program and this is the payoff is to get a sectional win. It's not a sectional championship, but it's a win and that feels really good."

The Tiger Cubs will face Northview, who defeated Linton-Stockton 5-0, and Spencer just wants to see his team come out and play loose in the final.

"That's what will be important for the guys, is to not come out and play tight, but go for your shots, if they don't go in, shake it off and go after the next one. You're not going to beat the next team by just getting the ball back. You're going to have to play tennis. It's going to be fun," Spencer said.

Greencastle and Northview will battle in the sectional final tonight at 5 p.m. at Northview.

At Northview

Northview Tennis Sectional

Singles

1. Hoadley (OV) def. Buchanan (GHS) 6-3, 7-5; 2. Miller (GHS) def. McHaley (OV) 6-4, 6-4; 3. Kass (GHS) def. Deatrick (OV) 6-3, 6-2

Doubles

1. Vest/Worland (OV) def. Hayes/Spencer (GHS) 6-2, 6-1; 2. Faust/Gerard (GHS) def. McHaley/Hege (OV) 2-6, 6-2, 6-0