Coach Sharon Wood said she was pleased with how competitive her Seymour tennis team was in its opening match against Providence on Thursday afternoon.
Each school won two of the four three-set matches, plus the Pioneers added a point in two sets at No. 2 singles and went home with a 3-2 win.
“The match definitely could have gone either way,” Wood said. “In tennis, you always ask for people to keep playing to each point, and when you get four of your position points playing it out to three sets and you get your No. 3 singles out here for three hours (that is a good effort). I would say No. 3 singles and No. 1 doubles were hitting a minimum of 10 to 20 balls in a rally before somebody was earning a point.”
Seymour’s Reuben Kruse battled Jacob Kasier for three hours at No. 3 singles with the Providence player winning 7-5, 4-6, 7-5. Seymour’s Hunter Heckman lost 6-2, 6-2 to Alex Kemp at No. 2 singles.
Seymour’s points came from Andrew Levine with a 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-3 win over Jake Rodski at No. 1 singles, and Trevor Alberring and Sam Baker scored a win for the Owls 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4 over Sam Bowles and Alex Barnett at No. 2 doubles.
Brandon Hubbard, the lone senior in the Owls’ varsity lineup, teamed up with Eli Meyer at No. 1 doubles, but they fell to Landon Kruer and Michael Hamm 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
“Four (out of) five matches went to three sets, and against a team like Providence, that is pretty good,” Wood said. “Providence is usually pretty strong. Last year wasn’t any easy task for us. We won 3-2. Three of them went to three sets, too.”
Hubbard saw one area in need of improvement.
“We (No. 1 doubles) have got to work on our returns,” Hubbard said. “They had a good first serve, and if we would have figured it out sooner, I feel like we would have been sitting good.”
Going three sets in four out of the five positions left Wood feeling good about the Owls’ prospects.
“For our players, that is very optimistic,” she said. “In practice, we’ve been working on how we can stay in a point. We look for winners, how we can be competitive, so I’m very, very happy with our competitiveness tonight.”
Joe Schmidt and Gavin Grimes won junior varsity singles matches for the Owls.
Wood said serve receive will need improvement when the Owls travel to Scottsburg today.