Brownstown Central and Trinity Lutheran split three-set matches at No. 1 singles and No. 2 doubles, but the Braves won at the other three positions to take home a 4-1 win in boys varsity tennis action on the Cougars’ courts Tuesday afternoon.

Trinity’s Jack Stuckwisch and Brownstown’s Smith Hackman spent over two hours on the courts before the Trinity junior won 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Trinity coach Brad Emerson spoke on the win for Stuckwisch.

“It was a nice win for Jack,” Emerson said. “Jack is very consistent. He’ll get a lot of balls back. Smith is a good player. He’s developed a lot over the years. He has a good serve, and his ground strokes are a lot better. I knew that would be a tough match. It ended up being a good three-setter.”

Brownstown Head Coach Donnie Thomas spoke about Hackman’s efforts recently.

“Smith had been playing really well,” Thomas said. “He pulled out a couple matches like that where he lost the first set, but tonight Jack got him.”

Trinity’s Will Gausmann and Reed Roeder defeated Brady Davis and Max Peters 6-2 in the first set at No. 2 doubles before the Braves came back to win 6-3, 6-4.

Thomas said, “We’ve been fooling around with the line up and moved Max and Brady down to two doubles. They didn’t start out too well, but they came back and won the next two sets.

“We moved Jace to three singles and that’s the best he’s played. He moved really well. He’s not super quick, but he got to where he needed to be, and he volleyed a lot better. He tried to get to the net when he could.”

Brownstown’s other points came from Chase Brock, 6-1, 6-1 over Luke Schepman at No. 2 singles, Jace Reaser 6-1, 6-2 over Ross Bevers sat No. 3 singles, and Lane Steward and Pierson Wheeler 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) against Nathan Finke and Jonathan Neawedde at No. 1 doubles.

Wheeler and Steward raised their record this fall to 10-0. They played singles for the past two years.

Wheeler said, “It didn’t take us long to get used to (doubles). It’s working out pretty well. We like to wear our opponents out, get them fatigued and put them in spots where they can’t get to the ball, and we have hard serves.”

He said Steward has a stronger backhand but, “I have a good forehand. We’re good at everything. We have got to keep playing how we are playing. We get about 90 percent of our first serves in.”

“There will be some competition at Scottsburg, but we should still win it. I feel like the team is doing pretty well. We’re getting used to these spots now and we’re starting to play better. We need to start getting ready for sectionals.”

Finke said he and Neawedde needed to play better at the start.

“We got down early in the second set. We head to rethink our plan and try to make something happen there,” Finke said.

“I count on my partner, trust him on everything he does. We got some inspiring words from our coach. He told us what we were doing wasn’t working, that we had to play our game. We decided to start moving our feet, moving around the court, creating chaos as Coach Emerson says.

“Our match was all right. We can play better. We need to keep working hard in practice. That’s where it is. I need to work on my volleys and my overheads, my net game. That’s where I felt I let down my teammate.”

Emerson said, “I think we left some points on the court, at one and two doubles. We had a 4-1 lead in the second set after winning the first set (two doubles) and then we let it go. These guys just have to really focus on putting the pedal to the metal, playing to win and not protecting a lead. We played great points but then seemed to stop.

“It was a tough match. It was competitive in three out of the five. Hopefully, these guys can realize that we can win if we really put our minds to it.”

The Braves (7-6) will travel to Eastern on Thursday, and Trinity (5-5) will play Hauser at home Thursday, then both the Braves and Cougars will play in the Scott County Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

Thomas said, “I keep harping for them to bend their knees more. We tend to play a lot straight up. It’s like playing defense in basketball. If you don’t bend your knees, you are not going to stop anybody. We have just got to move better.

“The strokes are pretty good, but it’s our movement and reacting to the ball, and anticipating where the ball is going to go. We’re kind of slow on all of those. If we’d pick that up, we would be a lot better.”

Brownstown Central, 4, Trinity Lutheran 1

No. 1 singles: Jack Stuckwisch (TL) def. Smith Hackman 4-6, 6-2, 6-3

No. 2 singles: Chase Brock (BC) def. Luke Schepman 6-1, 6-1

No. 3 singles: Jace Reaser (BC) def. Ross Bevers 6-1, 6-2

No. 1 doubles: Lane Steward-Pierson Wheeler (BC) def. Nathan Finke-Jonathan Neawedde 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)

No. 2 doubles: Brady Davis-Max Peters (BC) def. Will Gausmann-Reed Roeder 2-6, 6-3, 6-4

Junior varsity

Brownstown winners: singles-Trey Isaacs; doubles-Bode Mull-Charlie Boyer

Trinity winners: doubles-Brody Brown-Daniel Bode