FORTVILLE — Consider the message received.
Mt. Vernon girls tennis coach Gabe Muterspaugh watched his team lose a close contest Tuesday against Franklin Central. He didn’t want a repeat Wednesday against Shenandoah.
The Marauders bounced back in a big way, sweeping their way to a 5-0 win and losing only two games along the way.
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Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“Our girls got the message,” Muterspaugh said. “We had a full practice before our match today. I told our girls, ‘We are the number 28 team in the state. We need to start playing like it.’”
After a dominant win that only took an hour to achieve, Muterspaugh said he was happy with the way his team bounced back. He credited the effort to the team putting in the hard work before the match — along with his personal hatred of losing that he instills in his team.
On Tuesday, Mt. Vernon lost at No. 3 singles and both doubles spots. All were nearly perfect against Shenandoah.
Kaleigh Helm won 6-0, 6-1 against Shenandoah’s Josie Canaday at No. 3 singles, and both the No. 1 doubles team of Olivia Spicer and Sophie Williams and No. 2 doubles pair of Maeve Laughlin and Kaitlyn Dunlavy swept their way to 6-0, 6-0 wins.
“The girls came out knowing after last night, we had to win,” Spicer said. “I feel like with the match yesterday, we weren’t really expecting that (the loss) to happen.”
Shenandoah’s youth may have provided the perfect opportunity for Mt. Vernon to return to their winning ways. While the Marauders are led by several key seniors, including Alaina Nelson, Spicer and Williams, Shenandoah had no seniors in their varsity lineup against Mt. Vernon.
The four-time defending sectional champion Marauders sent out Nelson against Raiders freshman Morgan Nation. That proved to be a mismatch, as Nelson rolled 6-0, 6-0.
“It starts with our senior number one, Alaina Nelson,” Muterspaugh said. “She sets the tone. I can’t say enough about her. She’s our bulldog.”
Nelson set the pace and provided momentum. The rest of the Marauders followed suit in wrapping up a quick home win to bring their record to 2-1 early in the season.
They were aggressive, and Spicer said many of her teammates were trying new things on the court after Tuesday’s defeat to try to rebound from the loss.
“I feel like we could’ve won yesterday,” Spicer said. “This was good to help us get our confidence back.
The win was certainly confidence-boosting. After each match wrapped up, the winners would leave the court, all smiles, and high-five their coach and teammates.
Spicer was quick to mention that while she wants her teammates to have confidence moving forward, they would be careful not to get overconfident. She said the loss Tuesday, and the way they won Wednesday, makes the team smarter overall.
For both coach and team, the loss was an eye opener. But Muterspaugh said he saw what he wanted from his team with the way they got back on track with a smooth win.
“That was a big wake-up call early in the season,” Muterspaugh said of the loss to Franklin Central. “We can’t be timid. We have to be the lion, not the sheep. We have to impose our will on other teams.”
