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October 4, 2008

TENNIS: Red Devils’ great season continues

By KEVIN HARRIS

JEFFERSONVILLE — It has been a great season for the Jeffersonville boys’ tennis team.

The Red Devils won their own invitational and the prestigious Jasper Invitational along with ending the regular season ranked 18th in the state.

Add a second straight Jeff Sectional championship to that résumé.

On Saturday morning, the Red Devils claimed the title by beating a sound Providence squad, 4-1. The win earned Jeff (16-3) a spot in Tuesday’s Silver Creek Regional semifinals against New Albany.

“I think we’ve got a special team here,” Red Devil head coach Mark Reilly said. “These guys have inspirations to hopefully move on and do some things that haven’t happened in a long time.”

Jeff won all three singles matches in straight sets. At No. 1 singles, sophomore Patrick Elliott downed Providence senior Alex Evanczyk, 6-0, 6-0. No. 2 singles player Shane Burke beat Pioneer freshman Pete Andres, 6-4, 6-4 and, at three singles, senior Nathan Cross avenged a season-opening loss to Providence’s Travis Cunningham with a 6-1, 6-4 win.

The most important win for Jeff probably came at No. 2 doubles. Down 3-0 in the first set, the Red Devil tandem of Ryan Lewis and Joseph Nikitas claimed 12 of the last 13 games to beat Jacob Kraft and Nicholas Primavera, 6-3, 6-1.

“They’ve actually had some big wins for us this year,” Reilly said about Lewis and Nikitas. “They’re just as big of a point as No. 1 singles.”

Providence’s lone point was at No. 1 doubles. The senior duo of Will Dixon and Frank Kimmel downed Jeff’s veteran tandem of Jeremy Chesher and Sam Burke, 6-3, 6-4.

Pioneer head coach Scott Gurgol placed Dixon, his usual No. 1 singles player, at No. 1 doubles during the sectional to improve his team’s chances of knocking off Chesher and Burke.

“We knew going in that we had to get that point to have a chance to win, so we made our doubles team as strong as possible,” Gurgol said. “We felt that lineup gave us the best opportunity to win. We pushed Jeff to the limit today. I think we gave them a very competitive match, but they closed the door on us.”

Despite the sectional-final loss, the Pioneers (9-4) had one of their best seasons in program history. They captured titles at the New Albany and Mt. Vernon (Posey) invitationals.

Gurgol thinks his troops are very close to becoming a factor in the postseason again. He says his returning players need more offseason tournament experience to overcome the postseason hurdle. Providence’s only sectional championship was in 2006.

“That is the biggest thing,” said Gurgool. “My boys have the skills to hit with anybody. But a match of this caliber with this much meaning and this much riding on the line has a whole different feel to it. Nerves really become a factor. So if the guys get used to playing in tournaments and playing for something on a regular basis, then those nerves aren’t the same when you step out here.”

Jeff won its regular-season match with New Albany last Monday, 5-0. But Reilly expects the Bulldogs to be ready to play on Tuesday.

“We can’t look past them. We’ve got to go out and definitely compete,” said Reilly, who led Jeff to its last regional title in 1996. “They’re going to come wanting to win just as bad as we want to. They’ll be playing with nothing to lose.”

If Jeff beats New Albany, it will play either No. 16 Floyd Central or Silver Creek in Wednesday’s regional final.



JEFFERSONVILLE SECTIONAL

CHAMPIONSHIP

Jeff 4, Providence 1

Singles — Elliott (J) d. Evanczyk 6-0, 6-0; Sh. Burke (J) d. Andres 6-4, 6-4; Cross (J) d. Cunningham 6-1, 6-4.

Doubles — Dixon-Kimmel (P) d. Chesher-Sa. Burke 6-3, 6-4; Lewis-Nikitas (J) d. Kraft-Primavera 6-3, 6-1.

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