FORTVILLE — A quest for a fifth-straight sectional title lives on for the Mt. Vernon Marauders after Thursday’s sectional semifinals.
Standing in their way in tonight’s championship match will be the Greenfield-Central Cougars, who for the second straight night ground out a lengthy win, advancing and keeping their goal of a sectional title alive.
Mt. Vernon bested Eastern Hancock 5-0, while the Cougars got past Pendleton Heights 4-1 in part due to two impressive comeback wins.
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The Marauders had several positions get off the court quickly, as No. 1 doubles duo Olivia Spicer and Sophie Williams cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 victory against Eastern Hancock’s Madison Hagan and Kayla Huff.
No. 1 singles player Alaina Nelson was quick to follow, as was Mt. Vernon’s No. 2 Lydia Ruegsegger, both 6-1, 6-0 winners against the Royals’ Chelsi McMahan and Cassandra Hannemann, respectively.
While Nelson, a senior, has been here many times before, Ruegsegger, a freshman, cruised to a win in her first sectional experience.
“Sectional is just a different monster,” Mt. Vernon coach Gabe Muterspaugh said. “Nerves get exaggerated sometimes. For us to come out and take care of business quickly and set the tone, that’s what we wanted going into tomorrow.”
Mt. Vernon’s No. 2 doubles pairing of Maeve Laughlin and Alexis Lane also picked up a 6-0, 6-0 win against Eastern Hancock’s Corina Jennings and Chloe McCarty, and at No. 3 singles the Marauders’ Kaleigh Helm beat Eastern’s Valentina Brooks 6-2, 6-1, giving Mt. Vernon the clean sweep.
“Give Eastern credit. They’ve improved, even since county when we last saw them,” Muterspaugh said. “They do a nice job out there.”
The Cougars picked up quick wins at No. 2 and No. 3 singles to go up early. At the second position, Avery Spencer won against Pendleton Height’s Gracie Criswell 6-3, 6-1. At No. 3, Greenfield-Central’s Grace Hall beat the Arabians’ Lauren Marsh 6-4, 6-0.
Pendleton Heights took the No. 1 doubles match, as Susie Kramer and Claire Goodwin took down the Cougars’ top pairing of Kaleigh Stephenson and Haidyn Goodwin 6-3, 6-3.
With the Cougars up 2-1 and needing a win at either No. 1 singles or No. 2 doubles, they needed a comeback at either spot to claim their spot in the finals.
At No. 1 singles, Lindsey McCord had fallen behind after dropping the first set 6-7 (2). At No. 2 doubles, Erin Wright and Alyson Proper dropped their first set 4-6.
Both matches went to the third set. Wright and Proper won first, giving the Cougars the victory. McCord won the last match of the night, and the Cougars stamped their ticket to the finals with a 4-1 victory.
“The match isn’t decided until someone wins two sets,” Greenfield-Central coach Michael Turpin said. “I think my girls definitely proved that tonight when two doubles and one singles both went to three and they were able to finish it out.”
McCord beat Pendleton Height’s No. 1 Bailey Davis 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4. Wright and Proper grabbed momentum after losing their first set and won 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Mt. Vernon and Greenfield-Central have met twice this season, with the Marauders prevailing each time. Mt. Vernon handily won the county meet and also beat the Cougars 5-0 in a head-to-head match.
But that was the regular season. The stakes are different now, as is the environment.
“We’re in the final stretch now,” Turpin said. “We made it to the finals. We’re going to be happy tonight and we’re going to have to regroup again tomorrow morning and get set. They know it’s postseason. Everything that happened before isn’t as big of a deal. It’s all about this match right here, right now.”
The Cougars’ win puts them in position to play spoiler to the Marauders’ hopes of a fifth-straight sectional title.
The Marauders win gets them in position to defend their title again, and also happened to be a milestone for their coach, who earned his 500th victory as coach of Mt. Vernon.
“I bleed black and gold,” Muterspaugh said. “It’s pretty incredible. I had a chance this weekend to think about my first team out here, where I took the girls in and there were no championship banners. I said ‘we can make history.’”
They’ve been adding a lot of banners recently. The Cougars now stand in their way, hoping to keep them from adding another.
“When we got our draw, we knew this was the best route to get there, to play two matches and help us warm up,” Turpin said. “We’re here for the win, we’re going to try to push them in every single thing. It’ll definitely be much closer than last time we saw them.”
Muterspaugh saw how the Cougars came out firing on all cylinders in their first two sectional wins. He also knows his team will be ready for the challenge tonight at 5 p.m. at Mt. Vernon High School.
“Greenfield-Central are going to be fired up,” Muterspaugh said. “They beat New Pal, which was huge for them. But I promise you we’ll be ready to go, too.”
