Greencastle girls' tennis gets win 4-1 over Eagles

Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Greencastle's Rosemary Hurst returns while coach Rowe looks on. Hurst won her match against Kelly Hayden in two sets. (Banner Graphic/JAY LOCKETT)

A chilly Tuesday evening saw the Greencastle girls' tennis team get the season's first victory over the South Putnam Eagles 4-1.

"With the weather being the way it has over the last sixth months its pretty amazing that both teams were able to compete this well," said Greencastle coach Kevin Rowe. "I thought both teams showed a lot of spirit, hustle and gamesmanship."

The No. 1 singles match went the way of Rosemary Hurst of Greencastle. She was able to top Kelly Hayden of South Putnam in two close matches each with of score of 6-4.

The No. 2 singles saw South Putnam's Miriah Cherry battling hard but ultimately losing to Grencastle's Abbie Harms, 6-2 and 6-5.

"This was the my first time on varsity," Harms said. "I was excited and a little nervous. I was very nervous. (Cherry) was hitting really well but I did a pretty good job returning them."

She said that it really tough fighting against Cherry because Cherry was able to put the ball in tough spots on the court.

"There were sometimes she had some really good angles on me and then I had some pretty good angles," Harms said.

As the game wore on the evening got colder, but Eagle coach John Briones said South Putnam began to play better as they settled down.

"I don't know if the weather played a part," Briones said. "I don't like making excuses. We started a little slow and sluggish. We were doing a good job once the matches got going.

The Tiger Cubs' Bailey Zapp handled Olivia Arnold well, beating her 6-1 and 6-0.

No. 1 doubles saw the home team's only victory as Kyndra Boyce and Megan Guthrie, after losing their first set to Greencastle's Melody White and Lily Spencer, won their last two sets 6-1 and 7-5.

"I'm proud of our girls hanging in there," Briones said. "Greencastle is always aggressive. I would've liked to see our girls be more aggressive, but I am glad we stayed in there and battled back."

Tiger Cub's Rachel Chadd and Courtny Smallwood finished their match, beating Savannah Adams and Allacyn Arnold in two matches, both with a score of 6-3.

Abbie Harms of Greencastle serves up a shot against South Putnam Tuesday. She won her No. 2 singles match against South Putnam's Miriah Cherry in two games 6-2 and 6-5. (Banner Graphic/JAY LOCKETT)

"All of our matches were close and that's what you want, a competitive game," Rowe said. "I want to congratulate South Putnam. I'm happy we came away with the win and I'm happy with the sportsmanship."

South Putnam's Kelly Hayden takes a swing in her No. 1 singles match. She took a loss to Rosemary Hurst with two sets of 6-4. (Banner Graphic/JAY LOCKETT)
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