The outcome for Seymour’s boys tennis team on Thursday wasn’t what the Owls wanted hosting Jeffersonville in the Hoosier Hills Conference Tournament, but the message after the match remained simple for the squad.

Not done yet.

That was the main priority head coach Brandon Davis wanted to get across to his team.

“We aren’t done,” Davis said. “Simply, we aren’t done. We can’t quit. Our season is not done. There’s no reason to drop a head just because we lost. It is what it is, so we move on to the next game.”

Seymour dropped Thursday’s match to Jeffersonville 5-0. Hunter Heckman got beat by Alex Kelley 1-6, 0-6 at one singles, Andrew Levine lost to Max Fisher 1-6, 5-7 at two singles, and Joe Schmidt dropped a 5-7, 1-6 match to JJ Boyles at three singles.

At two doubles, Rueben Kruse and Parker Thompson lost to Eli Cochrum and Hayden Boseker 2-6, 5-7, and the lone three-set match of the night went to one doubles where Eli Meyer and Jack VonDielingen came up short to Jordan and Jaden Wells 2-6, 6-4, 1-6.

Meyer and VonDielingen became aggressive in the second set, which allowed them to even things up at one set apiece.

“They had aggressiveness coming into that second set, so that’s why they won that one,” Davis said. “They realized, ‘oh we can’t win without being aggressive at the net.’ Then we stopped doing that.”

Numerous times throughout the match, no matter how loud the Red Devils screamed out battle cries after receiving points, Davis would remind his players to stay focused, not get down on themselves and keep having fun.

Davis wants his players to enjoy the sport they work so hard to compete in, and with tennis being such a mental game, he doesn’t want the Owls to forget that.

Seymour will look to bounce back today when it plays at Jennings County at 4:30 p.m. Seymour beat the Panthers 4-1 earlier this season, and Davis expects his team to be fired up to get a win.

“Yeah, especially because we’ve already beat them once, and I think we can do it again,” Davis said. “We have to keep that in mind knowing that Jennings County is out for a revenge game at this point. Now, we just need to solidify where we should be.”

If Seymour wins, the Owls will likely host Bedford North Lawrence on Saturday morning, playing for a fifth-place finish in the HHC Tournament. That’s the highest spot Seymour can obtain at this point.

After that, the sectional draw will be on Monday at 7 p.m., and the Owls will begin sectional play next week.

“Aggressiveness, aggressiveness and more aggressiveness,” Davis said on what he wants from his team moving forward toward the postseason. “We are good at our ground strokes. We’re consistent. We can place balls well, but we don’t take a step early as what we should. We catch ourselves kind of double-stepping or tripping over our first step because we aren’t quick enough off our feet and we aren’t being aggressive.”