Wabash Wins Tennis Battle Over Manchester

The Manchester boys tennis team lost two 3-set matches that proved to be the difference in a 4-1 loss to the Wabash Apaches Thursday night, Aug. 25.

No. 3 singles Connor Trump led 4-1 in the first set but wasn’t able to hold on in a 6-4, 6-1 loss.

No. 1 singles Peyton Jones had to hold on after cruising to a 6-0 first set and won a second set tiebreak, 7-4, for the 7-6 win.

Both doubles teams played tight matches with the No. 1 team of Sammie Lambert and Cole Henderson falling short 6-2, 6-4, and the No. 2 team of Owen Harshman and A.J. Weaver losing in three sets, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Josh Steely had a marathon match at No. 2 singles but fell short in a third-set super tiebreak for a 7-6 (5), 6-7 (6), (10-4) loss.

The Squires fell to 1-2 with the loss and 0-2 in TRC play.

They hit the road next week with matches at Huntington North, Bluffton, and the West Noble Invitational.

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The Wabash Varstiy Tennis team broke into the win column tonight with a great team effort leading to a 4-1 TRC victory over Manchester at Honeywell Courts.

Both Manchester and Wabash are working to develop and improve as players that are young in terms of varsity experience. Wabash with a squad that relies heavily on freshman and sophmores in many key spots, and Manchester that is looking to replace the talented seniors that graduated from last year’s squad. In most areas the match was a bit of a roller coaster ride with Wabash finding a way to pull it out for the win.

At one singles Nicholas Ewing started slow losing set 1 0-6, then fought hard finding a strategy that paid off in set two. Set two tied at 6-6 went to a tiebreaker and Jones from Manchester was able to win in the end with a tiebreak score of 7-3.

Alex Dinkiins at 2 singles got his first win of the season in the most tightly contested match of the evening. Alex won set 1 in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (TB 7-4). Losing in set 2 to Steely, 6-7 (TB 5-7) the match was tied a set a piece. Agreeing to a super tiebreaker as the deciding set (Wabash had secured the win already), Dinkins attacked the net and made enough volleys to win 10-4 and seal the singles match.

A slow start at 3 singles had Eli Mattern staring at an 0-4 deficit. Diggning in his heels and playing his style of tennis, Eli broke serve to get to 1-4 and never looked back. Forcing the pace of play with thoughtful shot placement and a solid volley game, Eli ended up winning 11 of the next 12 games to break the 2 singes match wide open for a dominant win of 6-4, 6-1 over Trump.

The most consistent match of the evening for the Apaches was played at 1 doubles. Cooper Long and Dominic Baker pulled out a 2 set victory 6-2, 6-4 over Henderson and Lambert. 1 doubles continues to work towards finding the balance between placement and power and tonight was a good display of that growth.

Two doubles, after enduring a 1-6 first set, came back storng to win their spot with a 6-2 second set and 6-3 thrid set. Getting their feet moving and raquets back early to place the ball where needed was a strength in sets two and three. Congrats to both Ashton Coffman and TJ Fritter on getting the win for the team.

“This was a good and competitive match for us. The boys are starting to believe they can not only compete, but can win. Truly, to have to overcome the adversity of starting slow, or losing the first set and then coming back to win their match certainly helps our confidence. A year ago we would not have pulled out a match like this, our competitve drive is at a much higher level than last year and as our confidence grows we wil only continue to improve. I am proud of their efforts in practice and during matches to chase down every ball and play to get better.” Coach Mattern

Tonight 3 more Apaches earned their 2022 Varsity Tennis letter. Congrats to Alex Dinkins (2nd), Ashton Coffman (2nd) and TJ Fritter (1st) for reacing this accomplishment.

JV Winners included Colton Sellers, Dillon Pence and Nick Perkins.

To view photos from the match click on the picture and follow the link