For The Tribune
BROWNSTOWN
Brooke Hattabaugh was determined she wasn’t going to lose the final home match of her tennis career at Brownstown Central.
Hattabaugh, one of three seniors on the Braves’ roster, dominated Edinburgh’s Natalie Shoemaker from the start for a 6-0, 6-1 win Monday afternoon.
However, she didn’t get enough help from her teammates as the Braves lost 4-1 to finish the regular season at 4-12.
Braves coach Erik Stangland said his team didn’t have a good mental approach to the match.
“Edinburgh wanted it, and we didn’t want it bad enough,” he said. “We need to have a real desire to win. We’re missing way too many points and making the same mistakes that we made at the beginning of the year, and they haven’t corrected them.
“That is something that the underclassmen have got to fix if they want to play next year because we’ve got girls coming in that want to win. This match was a real disappointment. We just didn’t want it bad enough.”
The other two seniors, Heidi Martin and Amanda Axsom played doubles.
Martin teamed up with Sydney Cockerham, and they lost 6-3, 6-3 to Ashlyn Streeval and Allie Schooler at No. 1 doubles, while Axsom and Madison McKeand fell 6-2, 6-4 to Emma Westerfield and Meghan Collett at No. 2.
Stangland said he enjoyed coaching all three.
“They kept the program going,” Stangland said. “Brooke has finally blossomed into the tennis player we hoped for. She is playing really well.
“Heidi has been a solid No. 1 doubles player for a couple years now. Amanda has been one of our biggest cheerleaders, and she earned a spot tonight to show that she can actually play varsity. We gave her that chance. That was nice that she has played four years and she earned an opportunity.”
The Braves will face Scottsburg in the opening match of the Seymour Sectional on Wednesday.
The Warriors edged the Braves 3-2 in a Mid-Southern Conference match during the season.
“Our doubles teams have to play really well,” Stangland said. “If they play really well we could win one or both of those. Our singles should be stronger than they were. If we play to our potential we should have a good match with Scottsburg.”
The winner of the matchup will face Seymour on Thursday, and Trinity Lutheran will face Austin in the other match that day.
“The Seymour match is interesting because they have a different lineup, and we think we match up a little bit better than we did the first round,” Stangland said. “Maybe we can play with Seymour, and maybe at least we can have a good match with them. That’s what we hoping for.”