Daily Reporter staff reports
The New Palestine boys tennis team won the rivalry match against Mt. Vernon on Tuesday night with a narrow 3-2 victory.
The visiting Marauders grabbed a match at No. 1 singles behind senior Brendon Ware’s strong 7-5, 6-1 win. The victory pushed his season record to 12-6.
Senior Matt Hays won at No. 3 singles with a 6-4, 7-5 performance.
From there, the Dragons tied the score at 2-2.
Freshman Matthew True, who could rival many No. 1 players in the region, said Mt. Vernon head coach Gabe Muterspaugh, won at No. 2 singles, 6-0, 6-3. True is now 18-1 on the season.
New Palestine’s No. 1 doubles tandem of Josh McKinney and Evan Rejer posted a 6-1, 6-1 victory to tie up the score before the Dragons completed their rally at No. 2 doubles.
David Hockett and Conner Page fell behind 4-6, then stormed back 6-2, 6-3 to fend off the Marauders in an exciting three set tug-of-war.
“We are very close to getting over the hump,” Muterspaugh said. “We have to not take our foot off the pedal when we win first sets and turn it up. Sectionals next week will be a lot of fun if we play to our potential.”
The Marauders are now 11-3 on the season and 5-1 in the conference. The Dragons improved to 17-1-1.
Cougars fall to Batesville
The short-handed Greenfield-Central Cougars put up a fight, but Batesville had too much offense Tuesday night.
The Cougars won at No. 2 singles with Nate Real beating Ben Schwettman 6-1, 7-6 (7-3), but Batesville won the rest to claim a 4-1 victory.
Greenfield-Central were without No. 1 singles player Zak Lawhorn, No. 2 doubles player Brady Wright and No. 3 singles starter Tommy Graham.
The loss dropped the Cougars to 10-9 on the year, but several players gained valuable varsity experience in freshman Brad McDowell at No. 1 singles, junior Chris Wu and senior Tony Li at No. 2 doubles.
Normal varsity starters Saben Fletcher and Dylan Wilburn were a factor at No. 1 doubles for the Cougars, not giving up any easy points as they lost 3-6, 4-6.
Royals best Tri 3-2
The Eastern Hancock Royals bounced back from a 1-4 loss to Indian Creek to knock off Tri 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Duncan Cherry won at No. 1 singles 6-0, 6-3, and Garek Ferguson backed him up with a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles.
Corbin Jennings completed the singles sweep with a 6-1, 6-1 performance.
Against Indian Creek, Ferguson won 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) to erase the Braves’ shutout bid.
Boys soccer
Dragons lose tough one
The New Palestine boys soccer team dropped a hard-fought match to Center Grove 2-0 on Tuesday night.
The Trojans scored in the first minute of each half.
“The Dragons competed well and created several scoring chances but could not find the back of the net,” New Palestine head coach Jeff Burger said.
The Dragons are now 9-3-1 on the season.
Girls soccer
Cougars shut out 6-0
The Greenfield-Central girls soccer team lost 6-0 on the road to Hoosier Heritage Conference foe New Castle on Tuesday night.
New Castle is the front-runner in the HHC with a 6-1 league record and a 13-2 overall mark.
The Cougars dropped to 5-5-2 on the year and 3-3 in the HHC.
Volleyball
Dragons win No. 20
The New Palestine volleyball team hit the 20-win mark on Tuesday night with a 3-0 sweep of Morristown.
The Dragons routed the Yellow Jackets 25-9, 25-12, 25-13 to improve to 20-3.
Allison Dennemann had 15 kills and two aces. Kara Morris supplied 24 assists and 10 digs. Mia Long contributed nine kills and six aces (for a second straight match).
“We dominated tonight’s match,” New Palestine head coach Kelli Whitaker said. “We had excellent plays from all 12 players tonight. Emma Tucher did a nice job making scrappy plays in the back row.”
Royals fall in sweep
The Eastern Hancock Royals lost 3-0 to Indian Creek on Tuesday.
The host Royals nearly grabbed the first set and the decisive third, but the Braves mustered just enough offense to win 25-21, 25-10, 25-22.
