News and Tribune

 

By MATT CRESS

Tuesday brought the opening round of the Hoosier Hills Conference girls’ tennis tournament. A touch of the bizarre came with it.

In a matchup that was closer than expected, Floyd Central lost in the top two singles spots, but rallied for a 3-2 victory over host Jeffersonville to advance to Thursday’s semifinals.

The Highlanders’ opponent will be Jennings County, which turned a narrow 3-2 loss to host New Albany last week into a 4-1 rout that left Bulldog coach Bob Dusch scratching his head.

The Panthers will travel to Floyd Central for the semifinal, with the winner heading to Saturday’s final round.

Jeffersonville put together one of its best efforts of the season to take the Highlanders to the limit on Tuesday, nearly toppling a Floyd team that posted a 5-0 sweep earlier in the season.

“To come out and play the way we did tonight, I think we gained some confidence,” said Jeff coach Mark Reilly. “I told the girls I didn’t need to say a lot because our score indicated we are capable of playing well against one of the better teams in our area.”

The Red Devils not only competed, but emerged victorious at No. 1 and No. 2 singles.

In the day’s most competitive matchup, Jeff’s Katherine Clark took down Floyd’s Carmen Schreiber 6-4, 7-5. Michelle Roberts followed with a two singles victory for Jeff, defeating Annie Hunt by a comfortable 6-1, 6-1 spread.

“I thought Jeff played fantastic,” said Floyd coach Rick Miller. “They played really well and they’ve really improved. All three of their singles players played well.”

But it was at three singles where Floyd picked up its first point, as Sandra McCaffrey rolled past Dee Roehm 6-4, 6-2.

From there, the Highlanders asserted their doubles dominance, dropping just one game across the two matches. Chelsea Burch and Chelsey Shackleford teamed for a 6-0, 6-0 sweep of Jeff’s Danielle Davis and Susan Diteresa, while Floyd’s Kayla Oldham and Emily Wimbec crushed Christie Hubbard and Tanya Korchersberger by a 6-1, 6-0 count.

“I’m satisfied with the win, but I’m not satisfied with the way we played,” said Miller. “Hopefully, we can get it together (for the rest of the season).”

• Bulldogs falter against Jennings: Dusch was left thinking the same thing after New Albany was left on the wrong end of the 4-1 final score.

“We just didn’t play well,” said the longtime Bulldog boss. “It was a stressful type of match and they came out on top. We weren’t ready and then we let our emotions get to us.”

Only the team of Maddy Bellew and Sarah Nale managed to put a point on the board for the Bulldogs at No. 1 doubles. The No. 2 doubles squad of Ishita Jain and Emory Jones fared somewhat worse in their defeat.

All three of the singles matches were close, yet all three went the Panthers’ way. Both Kylie Crecelius (No. 2 singles) and Haley Haws (No. 3 singles) were ultimately defeated in three sets. Kylia Sullivan was likewise on the wrong side of the scoring in her No. 1 singles loss.

New Albany travels to Corydon today before meeting the Red Devils in the consolation bracket on Thursday.