The Seymour boys’ tennis team and Brownstown’s No. 1 doubles team of Pierson Wheeler and Lane Steward extended their season by winning matches in the Seymour Sectional Friday afternoon.

Seymour defeated Brownstown Central 4-1 for its third straight sectional title and will face Scottsburg in the Columbus Regional on Tuesday afternoon.

Winning points for the Owls were Parker Thompson, Carter Stein and Dane Thompson in singles, and the No. 2 doubles team of Braylon Busby and Xavier DuBois.

Wheeler and Steward increased their season record to 18-0 with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Shun Takeuchi and Joel Stevens at one doubles.

Their opponent, and the sights of their match in the individual doubles’ tournament will be announced later Monday.

Also advancing in singles were Jack Stuckwisch of Trinity Lutheran and Parker Bales of Jennings County. Their opponents and sight of their matches will be announced Monday.

Parker Thompson topped Smith Hackman 6-2, 7-5, Stein topped Chase Brock 6-1, 6-1, and Dane Thompson beat Jace Reaser 6-0, 6-0, and Braylon Busby and Xavier DuBois won 6-3, 6-1 against Max Peters and Brady Davis.

Seymour Coach PJ Stein spoke on the progression through this season for the team.

“We’ve come a long way from that opening night. It was not the way we wanted to start the season (losing to Waldron), but seeing how we have come back from that opening loss just speaks a lot to these guys and how hard they work,” Stein said. “They kept the goal in front of them to win the sectional tonight, so I’m really proud of the effort.”

Parker Thompson hurt his right ankle against Floyd Central during the finals of the Hoosier Hills Conference tournament on Sept. 27.

He said his ankle bothered him a lot in the first round against Trinity, and that he was able to move better in his match against Hackman.

“It still hurts pretty bad, but it’s definitely better, so that’s good,” Thompson said. “I would say I just played a lot more consistent, at least today from yesterday. I definitely scooted back further just so I had more time to get to the ball.

He spoke about the challenge of playing one singles.

“There is never an easy game (playing No. 1 singles),” Thompson said. “It doesn’t matter if you are playing the worst team in the state, you are still going to play someone that is pretty good, so it’s always a good game. There hasn’t been one match where I haven’t given up at least one game.”

The senior spoke on the regional pairing with Scottsburg.

“We got a pretty good draw for the regional, so hopefully we can get past the first round,” Thompson said.

Coach Stein spoke about his expectations before the match.

“I wasn’t really sure how tonight would go,” Stein said. “Last night was a tough night. Parker played with a lot of heart tonight, and I’m proud of his effort. We knew coming in that one doubles would be a tough match. We didn’t play well there tonight. Tennis is individual, but it’s also a team game and the team picked them up tonight and they have picked us up multiple times this year.”

“All the other positions tonight played really well right up to gate and got the early lead that we were looking for.”

Brownstown Coach Donnie Thomas spoke on the one singles match.

“Smith battled there. I know Parker’s not feeling good with that ankle, but Smith fought to the end, and he came up short,” Thomas said. “Sometimes he has come out on top, and sometimes he hasn’t, but he battled.”

Brownstown will lose Hackman, Steward, and Wheeler to graduation, while Seymour will lose Parker Thompson, DuBois, and Stevens to graduation.

The Brownstown coach spoke on the future of boys’ tennis.

“We’ll probably weaken up a little bit. We have got to figure out what we’re going to do,” Thomas said. “We’ve got some guys that haven’t played a whole lot. I recruited some from junior high a few years ago that will be sophomores and juniors, and they haven’t played a lot. We will be learning next year. A lot of these teams we beat 3-2 we may have a tough time with because a lot of these schools do not lose anybody, and now we lose a lot.”

The Braves finished 11-7, and Seymour is 18-3 heading into the regional. The Owls defeated Scottsburg on Aug. 23.

Stein about how the Warriors are a different team this time around.

“They’ve got a couple new additions since then, including foreign exchange student, and another player that played one singles as a freshman a few years ago, so it’s going to be a totally different opponent,” Stein said.

He spoke about the upcoming match.

“It has been great so far and if we can find a way to get to 20 wins that means we have done something pretty special, beating Scottsburg and Columbus North,” Stein said. “We’re going to keep that goal out in front of us and work really hard.”

Columbus North will play Batesville on Tuesday.