ALEXANDRIA — There was much to celebrate Thursday on the tennis courts at Alexandria High School.
With their 5-0 win over Elwood, the Tigers clinched at least a share of their first Central Indiana Conference championship since 2015.
It was also senior night for the Tigers as Owen May won his singles match and Ryan Long and Brody Sullivan each prevailed in their respective doubles matches to lift the team to a title that coach Matt DeVault has celebrated many times in the spring with the girls team.
Now it is the guys’ turn.
“These boys worked really hard to get here,” DeVault said. “We’ve had some lean years here on the boys side. … But these guys have come together really nicely. The fact that they could come together and win a title says a lot.”
May blitzed Elwood sophomore Drake Queseda early, then cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 1 singles while junior Austin Webb, after spotting Elwood junior Kolin Leever the first three games, took the next 12 straight for a 6-3, 6-0 win at No. 2 singles.
Sophomore Blake Jones won the No. 3 singles match in a forfeit as the Panthers only have six total players.
“Owen has been playing great all season and he looked sharp tonight,” DeVault said. “Austin started slow tonight, but once he gets going he’s the kind of kid that has another gear.”
It was a tougher battle for the Tigers in the doubles matches, particularly in the No. 2 match where Long and freshman Cooper Morgan needed a first set tiebreak and a third set overall for a 7-6 (7-4), 1-6, 11-9 win over Elwood juniors Kolin Lever and Jacob Schmitt.
Sullivan and sophomore Cale Johns controlled the No. 1 doubles match early, then fought off a late challenge from Jackson Gordon and Liam Cannon of Elwood for a 6-2, 6-3 win to complete the team sweep.
Gordon has been another cause for celebration this week.
The junior was involved in an automobile accident Monday evening when a vehicle ran a stop sign and pulled in front of him. His Mustang was destroyed, but although shaken up, he was able to walk away.
“It was very, very scary,” Gordon said. “I’m not going to lie, I thought I was dead. I thought I died. I thought I was going to stand up and see my body there and my soul was walking around.”
It was scary for his partner as well. The two have clicked since being paired during the season and, even after Thursday’s loss are a solid 8-2 at No. 1 doubles.
“I was nervous for him, obviously, and I think we have a shot to do something at sectional,” Cannon said. “That could have (ended) that. I was nervous that he was injured or something worse than that.”
The accident occurred between 9:30 and 10 that night, putting his status for Tuesday’s match at Madison-Grant in doubt.
Despite some neck and shoulder soreness and a headache, there was little doubt in Gordon’s mind.
“When I played, I had some soreness in my neck, but there was nothing truly injured,” he said.
Not only did Gordon show up and decide to play, he and Cannon picked up the win in their match against the Argylls.
Elwood coach John Kelly says not wanting to let his teammates down during a conference match says a lot about Gordon.
“It was a scary situation, and we worry about that with all high school kids,” Kelly said. “His head hurt, his neck hurt and they should have. I told him that he’s more important than any tennis match, but when we got there he said, ‘I’m playing.’”
Both Gordon and Cannon have high hopes of advancing in the doubles portion of the IHSAA tournament, which begins next week after the sectional draw this Sunday. They hope they learned something from Thursday’s loss to do just that.
“We’re a beatable team, but we can beat them too,” Gordon said. “We learned a lot from this match. I think we can communicate better, but we had some great shots tonight, especially from my partner.”
The Tigers improved to 13-5 overall and 5-0 in the CIC and will look to clinch the outright conference title Monday when they host Blackford in the regular-season finale. Alexandria will then host Sectional 55 in hopes of its first sectional title since 2002.
Elwood will play in the Eastern Invitational on Saturday before wrapping up the regular season Monday at home against Frankton. The Panthers and the Eagles — along with Tipton — will also turn their attention back to Alexandria for sectional.
“We’ve been on the road with Tipton. They have a really nice team and we were able to beat them, but it was a dog-fight,” DeVault said. “Frankton we’ve seen twice already and they do a great job of picking up at the right time. Last year they did that at sectional and this year it’s going to be our job to do the same thing.”
