Seymour High School’s girls tennis team reclaimed the sectional championship trophy by defeating Brownstown Central 4-1 on the SHS courts Saturday morning.
The Owls (13-6) stayed alive in the postseason, along with Brownstown’s Olivia Hackman, and Austin’s Jalen Coomer.
The Owls will play Greensburg at Bloomington South Tuesday to commence regional action.
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Hackman and Coomer will play either at Bloomington South or North, depending on the number of singles and doubles advancing. No. 1 singles and doubles advance individually as long as they win their sectional matches.
Seymour coach Jane Fenton said the Owls were hungry for a sectional trophy after coming up short a year ago. The Owls had won six straight titles before giving it up in 2018.
“Last year we lost to Scottsburg, so we’re bringing it back,” Fenton said. “We were ready, we wanted it. They were motivated and wanted to play aggressive from the beginning. I think our team has a lot of depth and I could count on different spots really working hard and hitting the shots they need to.”
Fenton said the team looked solid despite hot, windy conditions.
“I know the wind picked up here and there, but I feel our serves were pretty good today,” she said. “We were alright with our ground strokes. They varied a bit, but I felt like we played pretty strong with our strokes. We can work on volleys here and there, but overall I’m just proud of our team. We knew Brownstown was a good team and would come out strong as well, and we needed to be as ready as we could be.”
Peyton Levine defeated Maggie Hogan 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 singles, and Kirby Hill topped Chelsey Luedeman 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 singles for the Owls.
Mallory Moore and Kristina Griffin topped Rachel Adkins and Carly Brown 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 at No. 1 doubles, while Avery Ragon and Madalyn Baurle won 6-1, 6-3 over Hannah Hackman and Abbie Reynolds at No. 2.
Griffin was the only senior on Seymour’s sectional team, and is looking forward to the regional.
“It feels amazing, I’m so excited right now,” she said “I had some nerves. It’s an awesome feeling. We knew going in that Brownstown was going to be a really tough team. We beat them during the regular season so we knew they would be out to beat us, so we had to work even harder.”
Olivia Hackman picked up the Braves’ point with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Sandra Cerino at No. 1 singles.
Coach Erik Stangland said he was happy for Hackman.
“She played a good match today and was able to battle back from a loss (to Cerino) earlier. That’s what we needed from her,” he said.
Hackman moves on with an overall record of 14-5.
“I’m very, very excited. I tried my hardest,” Hackman said, adding she feels like she’s playing at the top of her game. “I have really good consistency in my ground strokes. I’m very grateful. I’m sorry the team doesn’t get to go on.”
Stangland said his team had a hard time matching up with the Owls.
“Seymour played a good match and had us beat,” he said. “We just couldn’t match up today.”
The Braves, who did not have any seniors on the team, finished 12-7.