By Dylan Wallace | The Tribune

[email protected]

BLOOMINGTON — Even though Seymour’s tennis team’s season came to an end on Tuesday after a 3-2 defeat to Bloomington North in the regional semifinal, one Owl got to extend her season one more day.

Since Brooke Schafstall beat Bloomington North’s one singles player on Tuesday, Schafstall advanced in the individual postseason bracket at one singles.

That matched her up against Bloomington South’s Briah O’Neal on Wednesday inside the IU Tennis Center — the match was moved indoors due to weather.

Schafstall suffered a 6-3, 6-3 defeat to O’Neal, but the match was a lot closer than the final score suggests.

“I think I played really well,” Schafstall said. “Coach (Sharon Wood) was telling me she just got two points when she needed them.”

What Schafstall means is the match went to deuce five different times, and only one of those broke Schafstall’s way. The two competitors went to deuce twice in the first set and three times in the second set.

“It’s a little defeating, but you just have to stay confident,” Schafstall said.

O’Neal was a hard-hitter, and a younger version of Schafstall may not have been able to keep pace, but that wasn’t the case on Wednesday night.

The Seymour junior was going toe-to-toe with O’Neal, trading off power with power. Schafstall won two of the final three games in the first set, and her confidence was starting to grow. She started finding the corners and hitting winners

down the line, even giving a fist pump after firing a backhand down the line.

“Pace loves pace in a tennis match,” Schafstall said. “She was hitting really hard and I was just feeding it right back. I was in my groove I guess.”

Schafstall’s serve receive was also on point, and she pointed out how she became ready for it while the two were warming up with one another.

“I tell myself bounce and react,” she said. “During warm-ups, I could tell every time she’d hit it to the outside, so if I’m on the right side, she’d always hit to my forehand, if I’m on the backhand side, she’s always hit to my backhand. She switched it up sometimes, but most of the time it went to the outside, so I already knew where it was going.”

Seymour has been playing outdoors basically all season, but since the match was moved to an indoor facility Wednesday, it allowed for the court to play much faster than usual.

“With the ball coming at you faster, you have to get your racket back sooner,” Schafstall said. “So, once I know in the split second what side it’s coming, I put my racket back.”

Schafstall admits it was weird going out there without her teammates, but although there wasn’t anyone playing on the courts beside her, there were plenty of people in the stands watching her.

“It was nerve-wracking because no one else was on the court, but they were all here cheering me on, so it felt really good to have some of my teammates here,” she said.

Wednesday wrapped up a successful season for Schafstall, who played one singles for the second-straight year. She helped Seymour advance to the Hoosier Hills Conference title match earlier this season and win a third-straight sectional title.

Her game grew immensely from her sophomore year to junior year, and she hopes to continue to improve heading into her senior season. Matches like the regional one against O’Neal will only help her take that next step. Schafstall showed she belonged on the court.

“It builds confidence a whole lot,” she said. “Even though I lost, I think I played really well.”