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Tiger Cubs to finals, Eagles eliminated at tennis sectional
The Greencastle girls' tennis team cruised to an easy 4-1 win on Wednesday, then made it look even easier Thursday when it beat South Vermillion 5-0. South Putnam lost in an earlier match and was knocked out.
The win moved the Tiger Cubs to the Indiana High School Athletic Association sectional final, where they will take on Northview.
"We're just trying to stay together as a team," Greencastle senior Bailey Brewer said. "There's a lot of pressure on us at school right now. (We're just taking it) a point at a time."
The Knights are the host school, but Thursday's match was moved to DePauw University because of fear of rain. The travel and changing conditions -- outdoor to indoor -- didn't slow them down.
Northview beat South Putnam 5-0 Thursday, eliminating the team and all its players from the postseason.
"I knew coming in Northview was going to be a tough match," SPHS coach John Briones said. "They're all really good and it was going to be a tough battle for us, but our girls fought hard and I'm proud of them."
South Putnam's No. 1 singles player, senior Madison Cash, had the best chance of getting the Eagles of the schneid.
Cash lost the first set to Northview's Haley Leach 6-0, then battled back to force a second-set tie-breaker. Down 5-3 in the breaker, Cash won four straight points to move the match to a deciding third set.
Battling back from an ankle injury she suffered two weeks ago, Cash ran out of gas in the third and was eliminated, along with the rest of her team.
In the IHSAA postseason, all the members of a team advance if it gets a dual-match win, but the No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles team can move on as individuals if they get wins.
Had Cash won, she would have been able to continue as the lone-remaining SPHS athlete.
"I'm really proud of the way she hung in there," Briones said. "The biggest thing that I've been preaching to my girls is the mental thing, and Madison has definitely overcome that. She plays to the very end and plays tough."
Aside from Cash, no other Eagles' player was able to win more than two games.
SPHS junior Kelly Hayden lost to Nicole Linton 1-0 at two-singles, senior Cierra Brown lost to Kaysia Reberger 1-1 at three-singles, juniors Miriyah Cherry and Kyndra Boyce lost to Jessica Baker and Hannah Minor 0-2 at one-doubles and senior Kassi Rains and junior Megan Guthrie lost to Shelby Timberman and Ramey Miller 0-0.
It was the final high school match for Cash, Brown and Rains.
"My three seniors have shown so much leadership and team camaraderie," Briones said. "They're just going to be so hard to replace. They've pulled the team together and made the freshmen feel like part of the team right off the bat.
"I've had really good leadership from them all and I can't be more proud of them."
The match had a much happier ending for the Tiger Cubs.
GHS won all of its matches against South Vermillion in straight sets and only one-doubles was closely contested.
Junior Melody White and senior Bailey Brewer were coming off a loss against Owen Valley on Wednesday and decided they needed to rededicate their focus to each point in the match.
That can be difficult, particularly with final exams going on this week for the student athletes. Following a loss, focusing wasn't an issue.
"I think we definitely wanted to come out a lot stronger today to make up for yesterday," White said. "Tennis is a lot of mental. ... If your minds not in the game, you're not going to do well no matter how you're hitting."
The focus showed early. The pair jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first set before beginning to relent to Olivia Harpenau and Brooke Sudduth.
Brewer and White pulled out the first set 7-5, then jumped out to another 4-1 lead in the second before again relaxing.
It took a powerful forehand that zoomed under White's arm to again get the Tiger Cubs to turn it back on.
White ripped a volley into the body of her opponent on the next point and the pair began playing off one another to set up angles and overheads.
"We were setting up points for each other," White said. "Whoever was in the back would set it up for the person at the net to get an awesome smash."
Brewer and White closed out the set and match 6-4.
The Tiger Cubs 5-0 team win pushed them to the sectional champion, where they will take on Northview.
GHS played in the Northview Invitational earlier this season, which the Tiger Cubs won, but it only played the Knights in two head-to-head matches.
Because Northview played in a match on Thursday before Greencastle, the Tiger Cubs were able to watch and do a little scouting.
"We watched a little bit today," Brewer said.
"You don't want to hit it to the person at the net," White added.
While Brewer and White were battling, the rest of the Tiger Cubs got their work done quickly.
In singles, senior Haylie Romer beat Marissa Vandergrift 1-1, senior Harriet Watson beat Taylor Spires 0-1 and senior Kayla Chadd beat Haley Crouch 1-0.
At two-doubles senior Sabrina Arnold and freshman Corrie Romer beat Whitney Reyber and Macy Russell 0-1.
Friday's sectional championship match is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Northview. If there is rain, it will be moved to DePauw.