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Eagle tennis gets ready for IHSAA Sectional round
Senior Night on the South Putnam tennis courts saw a 3-2 loss but it will be the loss of five seniors that will be missed more for the Eagles' team.
Collin Berry, Zane Crosby, Ben Albright, Aaron Cole and Nick Chambers played what might be their last home match on Monday against South Vermillion as the sectional play begins this week.
"The season has been pretty fun for me," No. 1 singles player Berry said. "I feel like I've really gained a lot of experience this year. I just feel like the team is a really solid team for this to only be our third year. I think we had a good year for guys to go out and have some fun. It's been a pretty good year overall."
Berry won his matches at 6-2 in both games and No. 2 singles players Josh Stewart showed his endurance as he's done in recent matches by winning 6-1 and 7-5.
Crosby in the No. 3 singles slot took a loss 2-6 and 0-6 and said this year has been propelled by a desire to enjoy the matches.
"I know we try and keep each other up as much as possible while we're playing," Crosby said. "Because we just like to have fun out here. We're getting to know each other."
The senior duo of Albright and Cole lost a competitive match 5-7 and 3-6 and both players will look back with fond memories of playing for coach Zack Love.
"We were all just warming up," Albright said. "We are just hearing coach (Love) on the other end, 'Let it eat!' just at the top of his lungs. "
Cole says he has enjoyed watching the Eagles grow into a team that he can be proud to play on.
"I think we've matured a lot," Cole said. "We went from hardly knowing how to hold a racket three years ago and we've had our best season in three years."
The No. 2 doubles team of Chambers and Jacob Lorimer also took a tough loss 2-6 and 0-6.
Chambers had a very simple answer when asked what he'd miss about playing for the Eagles, but it nonetheless applied specifically to tennis.
"I'm going to miss hitting the ball around," Chambers said.
The sectional matches at Northview will begin this week and South Putnam will be taking on the host school on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Love said that he has enjoyed coaching the seniors and the entire team in general.
It's a great group of seniors," Love said. "I'm really grateful just to coach such a great group of kids. We came a long way.
"I think that we do have some momentum going into sectional. We won last Thursday. I'm happy with the group that we have currently and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do as the week goes on."