By DAVE KITCHELL
Tribune sports editor
May 14, 2008 11:42 pm
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Eastern girls tennis coach Patrick Rice will tell you his team had three goals this season — all firsts for the program— producing a winning season, capturing the Mid-Indiana Conference title and claiming a sectional championship.
The Comets easily managed the winning season with a robust 11-3 record, but just missed the MIC crown. Now, they’ve set sights on the big prize — the Kokomo Sectional.
Eastern will be only spectators today. In first round play at 4 o’clock, Kokomo (10-6) takes on Tipton, while Western (7-6) plays Northwestern (9-8). At 4 p.m. on Friday, Eastern draws the Kokomo-Tipton winner, while Taylor (1-12) tests the Northwestern-Western victor. Friday’s survivors return for the championship Saturday at 10 a.m.
Rice knows Kokomo beat Tipton 5-0 in the regular season and while he’ll have his team ready to play Tipton on Friday if needed, he fully expects to face the eight-time defending sectional champion Wildkats.
“We really think we can win, Rice said. “But we know Kokomo has a quality team and program. We can’t go into the match intimidated and I don’t think we will — the girls really want to play Kokomo.”
The Comets have two unbeaten players who figure to pose problems for any opponent. Freshman Carly Miles (14-0) won every match this season at No. 1 singles in straight sets and foreign exchange student Vanessa Oei is 11-0 at No. 3 singles.
Eastern obviously needs those two points and hopes to get the deciding third point from either Vanessa Dove at No. 2 singles, Rachael Lindgren and Kourtney Cox (6-6) at No. 1 doubles or Kayci Detweiler and Karisa Burkholder (10-3) at No. 2 doubles.
Rice knows a win won’t come easily, especially at No. 3 singles where Oei resides. Her point has been crucial all season and that showed last week when she was out of state on a foreign exchange trip. While the unbeaten player was gone, the Comets dropped a pair of 3-2 conference losses that cost them dearly in the quest for the MIC crown.
“That trip came up in August and it was a great experience for her to go,” Rice said. “But with her — yes, I’m 100 percent sure we would have won the conference.”
Kokomo coach Rob Leavitt is pleased his team turned in a winning record against a very competitive schedule.
“Overall, the season went pretty much as expected,” he said. “We played a tough schedule and the [North Central Conference] was pretty equally matched, top to bottom. Our schedule helps a ton in preparing us for the sectional. Last year, skill wise, we weren’t the best team in the sectional, but maybe we were just a little tougher because of the toughness of our schedule. I’d always rather lose 3-2 to a good opponent than blow someone out 5-0. You don’t learn from that.”
Leavitt knows Eastern feels it can win it all.
“They should believe that,” he said. “They have a very good team and are especially strong at their [Nos.] 1-3 singles. “If we play them, it should be a heck of a match.”
Senior Heather Hemmeger has been the rock of the lineup, turning in a 15-0 record at No. 2 singles. Junior Alex Beechy is 10-6 in the No. 3 spot.
Western vs. Northwestern
Jerry Bradley is retiring from coaching and teaching this season and he’d love to go out on a high note. If that’s to happen, he knows his Panthers will have to play at a higher level than they did in the first meeting with rival Northwestern.
“[Northwestern] beat us 4-1 and while we had some matches that day that were relatively close, the truth is, we just didn’t play well. We were up and down all season it seemed. We had nice wins against Frankfort and Eastern, but from match to match we just weren’t consistent. We think we have a chance to win [today] — the girls believe they can.”
Western is led by Kait Flederbach (8-5) and Ashleigh Wheeler (10-5) at Nos. 2-3 singles. Flederbach picked up Western’s lone point in the loss to Northwestern.
Northwestern beat Maconaquah Tuesday afternoon, earning a share of the Mid-Indiana Conference championship at 6-1 — surprising coach Lori Miller.
“Going into the season, we would have been happy to be among the top three in the conference,” Miller said. “So, yes, we’re surprised a little. We graduated a lot of seniors last year but our newcomers have worked out well.”
Miller said she expects a battle with Western this afternoon.
“It’s the sectional and a whole new ball game,” she said. “I know they have been playing well in recent matches, building some momentum. We’ll be careful not to overlook them.”
Northwestern’s top points have come at No. 1 singles where Sara Poppas (13-4) and Amy Harshman (12-3) have competed well. Foreign exchange student Alba Rodriguez-Diez has carved out an 8-7 mark at No. 3 singles.
Taylor
Coach Dave Wise knew going into the season that wins would be rare, but he was excited with the prospect of working with young players.
The Titans did get a win over Rossville and led Madison-Grant convincingly when rain ended the match. Wise likes the improvement he’s seen from a squad that features a singles lineup of a freshman and two sophomores — a lineup that starts just two seniors.
“It was good to get a win — that was encouraging,” Wise said. “We have been more competitive in matches than we were a year ago, we just have problems finishing out opponents.”
Taylor will go against either Western or Northwestern in a Friday semifinal. The Titans fell to Western 5-0 Tuesday afternoon and to Northwestern 4-1 early in the season.
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