Seymour tennis coach Jacob Hunt said he felt his team did a good job of controlling their Brownstown Central opponents, and the result was a 4-1 win in favor of the Owls.
The meet took place at the SHS courts on Monday afternoon.
Carter Stein was the first Owl to put a point on the scoreboard with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Lane Steward at No. 3 singles.
Joe Schmidt was a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Smith Hackman in No. 1 singles.
Schmidt said, “For the first set, my serves were pretty much all going in and my serve returns, too. When I was on the (west) side, the wind helped a little bit, too. I was able to hit it a little bit harder, and I was able to get top spin.”
Schmidt, a senior, is 4-1 for the season and said he is pleased with all parts of his game.
“I think it’s going well, especially since my first match when I might have been a little bit nervous. I’d say I’m playing my best now,” he said. “I try to get my first serves in as much as I can. If I don’t get top spin, I end up missing a lot. I’ve got to work on that a little bit. My backhand is looking a lot better than last year. I’ve just got to get lower.”
Shun Takeuchi and Braylon Busby clinched the win for the Owls with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Evan Schneider and Chase Brock at No. 1 doubles, and Drew Handloser and Xavier DuBois followed with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Max Peters and Brody Davis.
“This match is always something I look forward to,” Hunt said. “For today’s match, I think we did a really good job controlling the court, kind of knowing our space, pushing the ball back to behind the service line and making sure the pace was on our end, having control of that pace.
“I think that is something we did really well today compared to other matches. I think things are going smoothly. It’s still an early season, so we’re trying to figure out the best lineup for us. We’re seeing the horizon here of what we want to try to be and what issues we have to resolve by the end of the season.”
Pierson Wheeler picked up Brownstown’s point with a 7-5, 1-6, 10-4 win over Parker Thompson at No. 2 singles.
Wheeler, who raised his record to 8-0 for the season, credited the win to stamina.
“I wore him out. He started giving me free points. He couldn’t return my serve in the tiebreaker, and I just wore him out,” he said. “The first set was just back-and-forth, and I won more than he did. The second set, he got me, but then I came back in the tiebreaker. My backhand has improved, and my forehand has gotten way harder.”
Braves coach Donnie Thomas spoke on Wheeler.
“He’s Pierson. I think he took a little bit of medicine, and he was still that typical ‘I don’t like to lose’ kid. That’s what he did here again. He’s tough. He only lost one last year and hasn’t lost yet this year,” he said.
“We’ve got to do a little work before sectional,” Thomas said of the team. “Our (two) doubles made a game of it that second set. So did Lane. He had a new racket, and he’s not quite used to it. It had tighter strings, so maybe it will be different come sectional. We’ve got to get better on every court, for sure.”
Seymour won all six junior varsity matches. Winning in JV singles were Colin Hartung and Griffin Eggers, while doubles winners were Jacob Rennekamp and Abram Yee and Bryce Peters and Cash McNeely.
Today, the Owls will travel to Jeffersonville, and the Braves will be home to Greensburg.