FORTVILLE — The number five kept popping up for the Marauders at this week’s Mt. Vernon girls tennis sectional.
Thursday’s 5-0 win, which was coach Gabe Muterspaugh’s 500th with the Marauders, led to Friday’s sectional final, where another 5-0 win, this time against Greenfield-Central, resulted in a sectional championship for Mt. Vernon.
It was the Marauders’ fifth sectional title in a row, a continuance of a tradition of success the team has built in recent years.
“Cloud nine,” Muterspaugh said of how another title felt. “We set this goal when we lost in the regional last year to Cathedral: We’re going to be here again, we’re going to continue the tradition. To hit that goal is exciting.
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“That’s what high school athletics is all about. This is it. They’ll never, ever forget this. It’s with them the rest of their lives.”
To get to that moment, the Marauders had to get past a Greenfield-Central team that came into the finals on a roll, picking up big wins against New Palestine and Pendleton Heights to get to Friday’s finale.
The Marauders jumped out to leads in several positions early, trying to take any momentum away.
And while the final score of 5-0 may not show it, the Cougars had plenty of fight in them. This is a team that has taken big leaps since their first defeat to Mt. Vernon this year, a more lopsided 5-0 loss at home April 19.
“We’ve been working towards this all season,” Greenfield-Central coach Michael Turpin said. “At the beginning of the sectionals we said we’re coming out here to make a statement. Our main goal was to come out and show people that we are a team that’s here to play and we’re one you should circle on your schedule. I think we definitely proved that.”
Mt. Vernon got rolling quickly, jumping ahead 3-0 at both No. 1 positions. The Marauders picked up two 6-1 first-set wins, and a 6-2 win looked to put the team in a good position.
The No. 1 doubles match ended first, with the Marauders team of Olivia Spicer and Sophie Williams doing the same thing they did the previous night, winning fast and getting off the court first to set the tone.
Spicer and Williams defeated Greenfield-Central’s Kaleigh Stephenson and Haidyn Goodwin 6-1, 6-0.
“It’s extremely important just to set the mood so everyone can say, ‘all right, they did it, so we can do it to,’” Williams said.
Their teammates started to follow closely after, as Kaleigh Helm bested the Cougars’ Grace Hall, also by a score of 6-1, 6-0.
The clincher came from the No. 2 doubles position, as Maeve Laughlin and Alexis Lane won 6-2, 6-1 against Greenfield-Central’s Erin Wright and Alyson Proper.
The match, and another title, were officially Mt. Vernon’s at that point. But Greenfield-Central didn’t quit. They didn’t go away.
Mt. Vernon had to keep battling to earn their last two wins. The change in Greenfield-Central from just a month prior was evident to the Marauders.
“You could see that they got better over the season,” Helm said. “We had to be on our ‘A’ game to beat them.”
At No. 1 singles, the Cougars’ Lindsey McCord kept fighting against Mt. Vernon senior Alaina Nelson. Nelson eventually prevailed 6-3, 6-3, but McCord didn’t make it easy.
The final match to wrap up was at No. 2 singles, where Greenfield-Central’s Avery Spencer had another back-and-forth match reminiscent of her sectional-opening win Thursday.
This time she held a slim first-set lead, but eventually fell to Mt. Vernon freshman Lydia Ruegsegger 7-5, 6-3.
“To be up 5-4 in the first set and then to come out and keep fighting, fighting, fighting in the second one, even when she was down 1-4, I think again she proved that she is a player that will be fun to watch going forward,” Turpin said of Spencer. “She’s extremely coachable, does not get down on herself, and stays positive the whole time. That’s exactly what you want in a player.”
Only a sophomore, Spencer likely will face off against Ruegsegger in the future, a possibility both coaches said they are looking forward to.
While the Marauders have a lot of sectional-winning experience on the team, Ruegsegger was playing in her first sectional.
She didn’t lose a set in either the semifinal or final, showing no signs of freshman jitters.
Her coach envisions a bright future ahead.
“Lydia, I call her my machine,” Muterspaugh said. “We try to get her to be relaxed. When she plays relaxed, you saw what she can do. The sky’s the limit. She could be fighting for a state championship here. We’re very excited for her future and she was fantastic tonight against a very good player.”
Ruegsegger has her first sectional title under her belt. For some of her teammates, this was their fourth.
Every year of the high school careers of Nelson, Williams and Spicer, the Marauders won a sectional. Every year they’ve advanced to regionals.
This year it was a little different for the No. 1 doubles duo, though. Spicer had played singles the last three years and made the switch this year to doubles.
It paid off.
“It just feels really accomplishing to be able to do this every year I’ve been on varsity,” Williams said. “I feel like me and my partner Olivia worked really well together. It just feels good to have a good partner like that.”
Up next for the Marauders is a familiar foe. The team that eliminated them in the regional round last year, Cathedral, stands in their way yet again.
Mt. Vernon will look for revenge against the state’s No. 2 team on Tuesday at North Central High School. The Marauders, ranked No. 27 in the final state poll, loaded their schedule this year with eight teams in the top 30.
They have faced a few teams that ranked in the top 10 in that final poll, but they haven’t seen Cathedral since the 5-0 regional loss last year.
Still, the Marauders know the caliber of opponent standing in their path.
“You’re going out there to battle,” Muterspaugh said. “We played them last year. They know what we have. It’s going to be a great battle. We have nothing to lose.
“We’re going to go show them that Mt. Vernon tennis out here is good. Dang good.”
