Seymour knew before the season where it wanted to get to, and on Wednesday night at Bloomington South, the Owls were exactly where they wanted to be: in the regional championship.
The only problem was they ran into the fifth-ranked team in the state in Columbus North. Seymour, the 29th-ranked team in the state, had its season end at the hands of North 5-0.
“We wanted to get to the finals of the regionals,” head coach Sharon Wood said. “We knew Columbus North after training with them in the winter would be a tough team. Right now, we’re a very grateful team. No team wants to lose, but I think for our younger players here that now sets the expectation.”
The seven out there for Seymour have been the same seven the Owls have been rolling with over the last two weeks and majority of the season. Brooke Schafstall lost 0-6, 0-6 at one singles, Sandy Cerino lost 0-6, 0-6 at two singles, and Kirby Hill lost 4-6, 0-6 at three singles.
The one doubles team of Mallory Moore and Avery Ragon lost 1-6, 3-6, and the two doubles team of Madalyn Baurle and Elise Hartung lost 4-6, 4-6.
Despite the 5-0 result, the Owls didn’t back down from the challenge.
“We came out to fight,” Wood said. “We came out making sure that we weren’t going to give up a single point. We were going to make them earn points, and indeed, that’s what they had to do.”
“Columbus’ experience paid off for them. They’re a great team, a well-coached team, and we wish them the best in semistate.”
There were a lot of positive moments from the Owls throughout this season, a season that only featured three total losses, two coming to Columbus North.
Seymour won 16 total matches, including winning the Hoosier Hills Conference and sectionals.
En route to the conference title, Seymour defeated Bedford North Lawrence 4-1, Floyd Central 3-2 and New Albany 3-2. En route to the sectional title, Seymour defeated Austin 5-0, Scottsburg 5-0 and Trinity Lutheran 5-0.
The Owls knocked off Southwestern (Hanover) this past Tuesday 5-0 to advance to the regional championship match.
“We got to all of those levels,” Wood said. “We wanted to be conference champs, we wanted to be sectional champs. We’re a very thankful team.”
Wednesday marked the end of the season for most of the Owls’ roster, but it also marked the end of the high school tennis careers for seven seniors on the roster.
Wood has raved about her seniors multiple times throughout the season, and she jumped at the chance to honor them one last time on Wednesday. {span}Cerino, Hill, Ragon and Moore were four seniors that all competed in the match, and Citlally Ramirez, Ellie Cornn and Sydney Musgrave were the three seniors that were there to cheer on their team.
“I just absolutely adore our seniors,” Wood said. “This is my first year with the varsity team, but having known these kids since they were seventh graders, I cannot say enough positive things about them. Their attitude is amazing, their work ethic is amazing, how they treat the younger players like they’re a part of the tennis family. They just embraced everyone.
“This team today would not be where it’s at without the leadership and motivation of all those seniors. They’re gonna be missed.”
Despite losing a lot of talent, Seymour will also be bringing back a lot talent for next season.
And as Wood mentioned, getting to the regional championship and competing against a team like Columbus North will only help raise the bar for where the Owls want to reach in the future.
“We’re a very good team, we’re a very strong team,” Wood said. “We have some areas we’re going to have to improve in the offseason to set us up for next year.”