Manchester Boys Tennis Defeats Rochester In Sectional Semi Final

With the Manchester and Rochester boys tennis teams tied at 2 matches apiece, the Peru Sectional semifinal match came down to the No. 2 doubles contest Thursday night, Sep. 28.

Manchester’s Sammie Lambert and Owen Harshman trailed Rochester in the third set, 4-3, but knocked the Zebras down by winning the final three games to clinch the team win, 3-2, sending the Squires to the championship match Friday night, Sept. 29.

The No. 1 doubles team of Cole Henderson and Connor Trump was first off for the Squires, winning, 6-0, 6-1.

The Zebras got their first point at No. 1 singles after Josh Steely lost, 6-1, 6-2.

Freshman Caleb Struble-Hedstrom continues to improved and rolled to a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 3 singles.

Peyton Jones lost a marathon match at No. 2 singles, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, leaving the fate of the Squires on the rackets of Lambert and Harshman.

The duo followed a familiar pattern of winning the first set but falling behind in the second set by winning the first set, 6-3, and losing the second in a tiebreak, 7-6 (2), sending the match into a third and final set.

The Zebras went up 2-0 in the third and later, 4-3 with a break, before Lambert and Harshman pulled out the win.

The win improves Manchester’s record to 10-5 as the Squires head into Friday’s championship match at 5:15 p.m. against the host Peru Tigers.