Members of the Seymour tennis team did a good job of getting their ground strokes and first serves in to defeat Brownstown Central 5-0 on the SHS courts Thursday afternoon.

Seymour coach Sharon Wood said, “We’re getting a little more consistent. That was one of our goals, particularly in doubles; can we place the ball where we want to? We want to be competitive, we want to be aggressive, but we want to reduce those unforced errors. I felt like, especially in two doubles, we did that.”

Addison Hunsley and Jessica Hougland defeated Bella Brown and Jenna Bolte 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2 doubles.

The closest match of the day came at No. 1 doubles where Ashley Clemente and Caroline Thompson rallied to defeat Hannah Hackman and Chelsea Luedeman 6-2, 7-5. Hackman and Luedeman held a 5-4 lead in the second set.

Wood said, “One doubles played a really fantastic first set. They got a little wobbly in the second set., but the great thing is they had that mental toughness to stick with it. They were down a game the whole set and came back to take it.

“So that was great to see that grit that they didn’t give up on themselves. They were able to tweak some things, fix some things and come out against a good, competitive Brownstown team”

Seymour’s Brooke Schafstall defeated Ava McKinney 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 singles, and Elise Hartung was a 6-0, 6-1 winner against Leah Pottschmidt at No. 3 singles.

Schafstall, who is 4-0 for the season said, “You’ve got to start out strong, make your calls real loud and just take control of the match. It’s real good to win that first game so you start off on that right foot because when you lose that first one it’s a little more difficult to come back.”

She has won all four of her matches in straight sets. Schafstall is a junior and in her second season playing No. 1 singles.

“I need to work on getting my first serves, and be more aggressive, and tweak my shot selection, like my backhands and short balls. I like playing baseline mostly,” she said. “I like practices because I get to be with the team more, and then I like cheering on my teammates, and winning feels really nice.”

Seymour’s Madalyn Baurle won against Brynn Burton by default in the second set. Baurle won the first set 6-1, and made a return in the second set when Burton fell and couldn’t continue.

Braves coach Erik Stangland said, “She twisted and lost her balance at the same time and landed on (right) foot in two different directions when it rolled.”

Stangland said his team needs to work on returns

“They’re just better at ground strokes, consistency, keeping the ball deep. If we’re not keeping it deep, they can move up to the net, and we hit it to them and they get some easy points and that makes a big difference.

“If they run you all over the court, and you’re not running them around the court you get tired. We’re learning, we’re taking this a match at a time. Our first

four matches were more like the same skill level. We played Brown County (Monday) and as a team they were a little better.”

The Braves started out 4-0, then lost at Brown County and at Seymour and will host Silver Creek today for a Mid-Southern Conference match.

“Obviously, Seymour is the best team we’ve played, and probably will be one of the best teams we play,” he said. “We’re getting there. This is kind of the hump in the season, and Jennings County and North Harrison are coming up, so that gives you four or five (tough) matches in a row, then we get a couple matches that will be a little bit lighter, or more our level, then we’ve got sectional.

“It was good to see the girls have a good match. We had good weather for it.”

The Owls (4-0) will travel to Salem today, and will face Shelbyville, Triton Central and Franklin County in the Shelbyville Tournament Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m. The Owls will make up their match with Columbus North Monday.

“We’ve been playing really well overall,” Wood said. “This week we’ll get three matches in and then be at a tournament, and we’re looking to see if we can stay consistent. Do we have the endurance, do we have the conditioning to stay where we need to be when we get into sectional and we’re playing two or three matches right in a row? Do we have that stamina, do we have the mental ability to stay in the match, and so far this week we’re showing exactly that.”

Seymour won the JV match 5-0 as Ava Sunbury defeated Alexa Manns, Carley Sanders topped Avery Harrison, and Emma Woodard beat Claire Elliott in singles matches, and Marlo Cornn and Audrey Newkirk beat Karla Fuentes and Lexi Satterthwaite in one doubles, and Tori Fee and Liza Stuckwisch beat Kylie Eglen and Kaitlyn Williams in the other doubles.