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The Paper photo by Lori Poteet
North Montgomery senior Mark Clements rallied for a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 3 singles. |
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The Paper photo by Lori Poteet
Crawfordsville’s Brendon Craft prepares to hit a return. |
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| Boys tennis
Monday
At Crawfordsville
North Montgomery 4, Crawfordsville 1
No. 1 singles: Wade Miller NM def. Drew Smail C 6-1, 6-0
No. 2 singles: Jackson Clifton NM def. Peter Santa Maria C 6-0, 6-1
No. 3 singles: Mark Clements NM def. Brendon Craft C 6-4, 6-2
No. 1 doubles: Josh Rager and Andrew Allen C def. Eric Spencer and Chris Coakes NM 6-4, 6-3
No. 2 doubles: Jason Hook and Derek Fike NM def. Michael Demeter and Ronnie Myers C 7-5, 7-5
Records: North Montgomery 11-2 (2-0 SAC), Crawfordsville 6-2 (3-1 SAC)
Junior varsity
North Montgomery 4, Crawfordsville 3
No. 1 singles: Andrew Airey NM def. Luke Wren C 8-3
No. 2 singles: Bryant Hagadorn C def. Clayton Zink NM 8-6
No. 3 singles: Matt Ryker NM def. Chris Emberton C 8-6
No. 4 singles: Bryant Hagadorn C def. Mahlon Nevitt NM 6-0
No. 1 doubles: Craig Brainard and John Lawson C def. Matt Ryker and James Samuelson NM 8-3
No. 2 doubles: Raven Graves and Mason Harpham NM def. Sam Vaught and Eric Totheroh C 8-3
No. 3 doubles: Tyler King and Derek Hampton NM def. Ryan Richmond and Travis Kruckow C 8-4
No. 4 doubles: Luke Wren and John Lawson C def. Luke Walker and Dylan Riley NM 8-0
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Reprinted Coutesy of:
The Paper of Montgomery County
www.thepaper24-7.com
By John Groth
Sports Editor
Mark Clements didn’t start out with a bundle of energy.
Halfway
through the first set of his No. 3 singles match against Crawfordsville
sophomore Brendon Craft, he was down three games.
And the North
Montgomery High School senior looked like he was sleepwalking against
his Sagamore Athletic Conference and county-rival.
That’s when he realized what was wrong. So, he changed his gameplan.
With
some harder serves and a little bit more patience, Clements managed to
rally for a two-set win and his other two singles teammates cruised to
victories in visiting North Montgomery’s 4-1 win over Crawfordsville.
“I
might have come out a little flat,” said Clements, who defeated Craft
6-4, 6-2 after being down 4-1 in the first set. “I think (Brendon) came
into it pumped up and maybe I was a little bit asleep. I was trying to
hit too many winners. I needed more consistency to try to make a
comeback. I hit some big serves, too.”
North Montgomery (11-2,
2-0 SAC) picked up its third-straight win over Crawfordsville (6-2, 3-1
SAC) and has gone 3-0 against its county-rival in Jonathon Guthrie’s
two-year tenure.
But the Chargers didn’t all come out with the fire he had hoped.
Guthrie
knows if the two meet again in the Indiana High School Athletic
Association Crawfordsville Sectional, they might not be as lucky the
second time around.
North Montgomery’s top two singles players
dominated their opponents – junior Wade Miller dropped junior Drew
Smail 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 while senior Jackson Clifton took care of
senior Peter Santa Maria 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2.
But at No. 3 singles – and in both doubles matches – the Chargers didn’t have that extra spark.
Clements
lost four of the first five games of his match before he started to
wake up and develop a sense of urgency. He won five of the last seven
in the first set and the final three of the second set.
“I won
some big points and it kind of dropped (Craft’s) intensity down and he
ran out of energy,” Clements said. “I think he’s gotten much better. I
haven’t played somebody who hits the ball as hard as he does all year.
I’m not used to that.”
Seniors Jason Hook and Derek Fike were
the opposite at No. 2 doubles in a 7-5, 7-5 victory over seniors
Michael Demeter and Ronnie Myers.
They started out well,
jumping out to a 4-1 first-set lead but then dropped four-straight
games before rallying back for the win. They also rallied form a 2-1
second-set deficit.
“We came out flat and weren’t moving as
well,” Guthrie said. “All of a sudden, we started playing better. That
kind of effort will not work in sectionals. Crawfordsville will work
their tails off and be better.”
Crawfordsville’s lone win came
at No. 1 doubles – where senior Josh Rager and junior Andrew Allen
earned a 6-4, 6-3 win over seniors Eric Spencer and Chris Coakes in a
back-and-forth match. They improved to 10-1.
Athenians’ coach
Barry Morton liked his team’s intensity – especially since he spent the
better part of this past weekend trying to figure out a new line-up.
Senior Sam Andre, who had recently returned after a back injury and was playing No. 2 singles, quit the team over the weekend.
That
meant Morton had to quickly come up with a new line-up. So, he moved
senior Peter Santa Maria up from No. 3 singles to No. 2 and moved Craft
up from the junior varsity to No. 3 singles.
He’d hoped to
test the new line-up out this past weekend at Saturday’s Lafayette
Jefferson Invitational, but the tournament was rained out.
He’s
going to move junior Luke Wren into the No. 3 singles position in
today’s 5 p.m. match at conference rival Danville and said he will
probably switch Wren and Craft the rest of the season.
With
sectionals coming up in the beginning of October, his goal is to find a
way to win at No. 2 doubles against North Montgomery.
“We’ve
got to win at two doubles,” Morton said. “We’ve lost to North’s two
doubles team three times in a row in really tight matchers . . . Derek
Fike is the problem. He’s won every match. Either he has to be off or
one of our guys has to win the match.”
North Montgomery next plays at 4:30 p.m. today against conference foe Frankfort. |
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