Published: August 23, 2008 10:29 pm            

PREP: Kokomo sweeps league tennis opponents

Eastern volleyball team wins Madison-Grant Invitational

Kokomo’s boys tennis team raced out of the gate in the North Central Conference on Saturday, dispatching two league opponents on the KHS courts. The Wildkats swept New Castle aside 5-0, winning each point in straight sets, then gutted out a difficult 4-1 victory over Anderson with all three singles points going the distance.

Against New Castle in the morning, Mitch Gauger won 6-3, 6-4 in the toughest point, the No. 1 singles match. Brad Caldwell won 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2, and Noah Laymon won 6-0, 6-1 at No. 3.

In doubles, Michael Reynolds and Josh Paul won 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1, and Blake Brown and Michael Hilton won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2.

Anderson tested Kokomo in the afternoon. Gauger won 7-6 (6-3), 0-6, 7-5 at No. 1 singles. Drew Simon fell 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 at No. 2. And Laymon won 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 at No. 3.

The No. 1 doubles team of Caldwell and Hilton won 6-2, 7-6 (8-6), while the No. 2 tandem of Paul and Reynolds won 6-0, 6-0.

“I was proud of how we came out focused against New Castle,” Kokomo coach Shawn Flanary said.

“The big match of the day, which could have gone either way, was the one against Anderson. All three singles matches went three sets. We were fortunate to come out on top. [We got] just great efforts by all three singles players, Mitch, Drew and Noah. Both doubles teams pretty much took control.”

Flanary noted how well Gauger handled a tough task

“Mitch, for him to step up a spot and play a couple of the better returning [No.] 1 players, to beat them both was a huge day for him,” Flanary said. “He really kept his composure and mentally had a great day.”

Kokomo (2-1) plays at Carmel Wednesday.

Cass Invitational

Eastern took second in the four-team invite in its first action of the season. The Comets swept both Hamilton Heights, then Tippecanoe Valley 5-0 before falling to Cass 4-1 in the final match of the day.

The No. 1 doubles team of Adam McKinney and Noel Horvath proved the top doubles team of the tourney, going 3-0.

Also for Eastern, No. 1 singles player Joby Renbarger, No. 2 player Dylan Buck and No. 3 player Blake Fights each went 2-1. At No. 2 doubles, Michael Harvath and Michael Dunkle went 1-1, and Harvath teamed with Evan Cass to beat Tippy Valley.

“The guys came out and didn’t disappoint at all,” EHS coach Ryan Torivo said. “From the mental aspect, I see that we’re much stronger than we were last year. I felt like we played well.

“I think Lewis Cass had some better strokes in that third round than we did. I look forward to matching up with them again later on in the season.”

Eastern (2-1) plays at Madison-Grant Wednesday.

Volleyball

Madison-Grant Invite

Eastern took first in the four-team invitational. The Comets finished 2-1 to tie the host school for the top record, but took the hardware thanks to beating the Argylls in the head-to-head meeting.

Eastern opened with a 25-14, 25-18 victory over Lapel. Bluffton topped Eastern 25-23, 25-18, 15-12. Then Eastern beat M-G 30-28, 25-23.

Chelsea Wilson had 23 kills and a dozen blocks for the Comets, Jessica Rainey had 25 digs, 15 service points and 10 kills. Courtney Donham had 35 digs and 10 points. Lyndsi Pence had a dozen points and 72 assists.

“Jessica Rainey, I can’t say enough about her,” Eastern coach Meredith Cipriano said of the strong-side player who can play throughout the rotation. “She had an all-around good day. When she played good, our team looked really good. Defensively she was picking everything up, and it really helped us stay in the game, her and Courtney both.”

Eastern (3-2) hosts Carroll Monday.

Covenant Christian Invite

Taylor’s volleyball team secured its first hardware in 23 years when the Titans took the runner-up spot at the six-team Covenant Christian Invitational.

The Titans beat Waldron 25-18, 25-17, then topped Indy Metro 25-5, 15-14 and beat Greenwood 25-10, 25-16. The host school beat Taylor 25-12, 25-12 for the title.

Elise Black led Taylor with 17 service points, including 11 aces, and 16 assists. Bri Barnett added 16 points (four aces), eight kills and four blocks. Jennifer Seal had 12 points (five aces) and 17 digs.

Liz Mamaril excelled offensively and defensively with 16 digs and 16 kills as well as four blocks. Kaitlynne Smith had eight kills, three blocks and nine points. Amanda Seidel had 15 assists and Brooklynn Lemons had 15 digs.

“We’re starting to distribute the ball better on our attacks and the girls are really stepping up and taking ownership of the team,” Taylor coach Shane Vore said. “They don’t just show up to play, they show up and they want to win.

“The defense looked great —a lot of energy. Girls were hitting the court all over the place. At one point during the first match, I thought we were opening an IHOP because I think we had five pancakes inside of eight points. We’re playing with a high energy level and I really liked it.”

Taylor (3-3) has already equaled its win total from last season. The Titans host Madison-Grant Wednesday.

Tomahawk Invitational

Northwestern went 2-2 at North Miami, dropping its first two matches, then winning two in its pool. In pool play, Westfield beat Northwestern 19-25, 25-19, 15-12, and Southwood defeated NW 25-22, 25-12.

The Purple Tigers rebounded by beating South Adams 25-14, 25-17, then topping Maconaquah 25-22, 25-17, 15-7 in the pool final.

“They came out [against South Adams] knowing they’d have to survive. They wanted to get in the final game of the Bronze Pool,” NW coach Marty Britten said. “They were pumped up, they were talking a lot, their coverage was great.

“We went tooth and nail over all three games [against Mac] but eventually came out victorious. That was the first time in quite a while we’d beaten them, so we were happy with that.”

Kylie Ballard had 15 points, 11 kills, a dozen digs and five blocks for Northwestern. Bri Kuffell added 15 points and eight kills. Kat Lowden had 15 points and six aces. Baily Muhlenkamp had 27 points, 10 on aces, and 34 assists. Lainey Sewell had 11 points, 13 kills and five blocks. Alex Wylie had nine service points. Jennie Kesler added 34 assists and five blocks.

Kokomo Invitational

The Wildkats went 1-3 in their tournament to finish sixth out of nine squads. The VolleyKats fell to Zionsville 25-12, 25-12 to open pool play, then beat Frankfort 26-24, 28-26. In the placement rounds, Kokomo fell to Lake Central 25-18, 25-14, and fell to Carroll of Allen County 25-15, 25-16.

Kelly Hopkins led the Kat attack with 21 kills and five blocks. Abby Hemmeger had a dozen kills, 58 service receptions and 21 digs. Rachel Godley had six kills. Whitney Weir had 21 assists while Tricia Hatfield had 18.

Jackie Filip had 37 service receptions and 17 digs. Shana Bowley had 34 service receptions and 23 digs.

“We actually are making improvements,” Kat coach Ron Byram said. “We had a lot of real nice volleys. The learning curve is going up quickly. We knew we were pretty inexperienced so this is a tough tournament. We don’t always score well, but we were playing well.

“Clarissa Woodard played really well at the net and also helping us make some defensive plays.”

Boys CC

Fountain Central G.P.

Western held off West Lafayette to take second place in the 13-team grand prix. McCutcheon won with a score of 22, followed by Western (50) and West Lafayette (52) before a big gap opened. North Vermillion was fourth at 145.

Corey Scott paced Western with a time of 17:20, good for fourth place. Zac Martinez was eighth (17:46), Austin Young was ninth (17:47), Kody Harmon was 10th (17:54), Kyle Starich was 20th (19:46), John Capps was 23rd (20:29) and Ben Bradshaw was 31st (21:16).

“I thought we did really well,” Western coach Joe Orr said. “Since I’ve been here two years, we haven’t beaten West Lafayette. That was an accomplishment.

“Austin Young and Kody Harmon worked hard this summer. Each of them improved about 48 seconds from last year on the same course.”

Western hosts the Western Invitational Saturday.

Huntington North Invitational

Kokomo took sixth place in a field of 11 at Huntington. State power Carroll of Allen County was first with a score of 28, followed by Huntington North (52) and Homestead (93). Kokomo’s score was 157.

Huntington North’s Ross Ochs won in a time of 16:17.

Ian Holtson led Kokomo with a 13th-place finish in 17:16. Drew Simon was 27th (18:06), Dylan Walker was 37th (18:30), Jordan Lee was 38th (18:36), Matt Wyss was 42nd (18:47), Vince Calabro was 50th (19:17) and Kyle Wyson was 55th (19:33).

“For the guys, four out of the top five had season bests,” Kokomo coach Ricke Stucker said. “The competition was really good.”

Girls CC

Fountain Central G.P.

Western posted a score of 31 to take second place in the 12-team invite. West Lafayette won with a score of 27. McCutcheon was third with 90.

Jenn Elliott led a tight Western pack with a fourth-place finish in 22:22. Ashley Gaskins (22:24), Kayla Gaskins (23:06) and Krissy Durr (23:09) followed in 5-6-7, Corianne Myer was 10th (23:31), Bre Nicholas was 16th (24:33) and Lacey Myer was 20th (25:07).

“I was happy with the way they ran together as a group,” Western coach Heather Yentes said. “Getting fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and 10th, that was big. If they can stay together as a pack, they’ll have a lot of success this year.”

West Lafayette’s Kelsey Lewark won in a time of 20:01.

Western hosts the Western Invitational Saturday.

Huntington North Invitational

Kokomo scored 230 to finish ninth in the 11-team field at Huntington. State power Carroll of Allen County finished first (26), well ahead of Homestead (80), DeKalb (81) and the hosts (94).

DeKalb’s Autumn Beachy was fastest at 18:44.

Annika Taber led Kokomo with a 36th-place finish (22:38), Kellie Miles was 44th (23:41), Katie Klein was 46th (24:04), Hailey Butchart was 47th (24:11), Maddie Cassidy was 57th (24:20) and Kelsey Griffin was 58th (25:52).

“The course was very fast because it was so dry, so we were pretty happy with the improvement that we had from Tuesday,” KHS coach Ricke Stucker said. “Our top five girls all had season bests.”

Kokomo runs in the Western Invitational Saturday.

Boys soccer

Frankfort Invitational

Jimmy Corcoran scored a goal and dished an assist to lead Northwestern past Mid-Indiana Conference rival Hamilton Heights 3-0 in the opening round of the four-team tournament.

“We controlled play. We outshot them 17-4,” Northwestern coach Jim Corcoran said. “It was kind of a physical game, and my kids reacted to it pretty good. It was 0-0 at the end of the first half, and we came out and scored about two minutes into the second half. Then it was a 1-0 game for quite awhile.”

Peter Caven converted a penalty kick with about 10 minutes remaining to bump the Tigers’ lead to 2-0 and Jake Smallwood punched in an insurance goal with about five minutes remaining.

“It was a good, competitive match between two of the front-runners in the MIC,” Jim Corcoran said.

Nolan Sanders had an assist and Graham Dennis recorded three saves.

In the final, Guerin Catholic beat Northwestern 2-0 to complete a “sweep” of games between the teams. The Golden Eagles beat the Tigers 2-1 on Thursday.

“Guerin was up 3-0 at halftime against Frankfort and they rested their starting team, but we put the Heights game away late so we had to work hard for two games. My team showed a lot of stamina and hard work,” Jim Corcoran noted. “We almost flip-flopped shots [on goal] from Thursday — we came out ahead on shots, unfortunately we didn’t hit the target. But a great effort from the team.”

Dennis had six saves.

Northwestern (1-2) plays at Kokomo Thursday.

Carroll 5, Winamac 0

Chase Meade scored three goals and Michael Myer and Dan Budreau added a goal apiece in the Cougars’ 5-0 win. Codey Meade recorded an assist and ’keeper Codey Abdon collected six saves.

Carroll (2-0) begins a swing of three straight Hoosier Heartland Conference games on Thursday at Tri-Central.

Girls soccer

McCutcheon 2. Taylor 1

Amber Doehrman scored a goal off a Katie Long assist to put the visiting Titans up 1-0 in the first half, but the Mavericks scored two goals in the second half to claim the win.

“We did really well in the first half passing the ball and controlling the field, but with the weather, we more or less ran out of gas,” Taylor coach John Piotrowicz said. “They had [more depth] than we did and they were able to keep up their stamina a little better than we did, and able to stay within their game plan a little better.”

Kylie Weeks finished with 13 saves for the Titans, who dropped to 0-2.

“We’re improving. I saw some good things [Saturday], but there are still some areas we need to work on obviously,” Piotrowicz said.

Tribune sportswriters Pedro Velazco and Bryan Gaskins compiled this report.

        

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