FORTVILLE — For the second time in less than a week, the New Palestine Dragons and Pendleton Heights girls tennis teams faced off with one another.
This time, the stakes were higher. This time, it was win or go home. Last year, the Dragons were shocked in the opening round of sectional play, falling to Greenfield-Central, 3-2.
They weren’t going to let that opening-round exit happen again.
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As they did last Friday, the Dragons cruised past the Arabians on Wednesday at Mt. Vernon, winning their first-round sectional match by a 4-1 score and advancing to today’s semifinal against county opponent Eastern Hancock.
“They came out more focused tonight, did well on their volleys, especially the doubles,” New Palestine coach Jean Graham said. “Much sharper tonight than we were the other night. I’m real happy with them.”
It wasn’t quite as easy as Friday’s match, a 5-0 New Palestine sweep, but the Dragons wrapped things up early before losing the final point of the night.
The Dragons doubles teams were off the court first, almost simultaneously. The No. 2 team of Sheridan Schrowe and Ashley Truman picked up a 6-0, 6-2 win against Pendleton Heights’ Cassidy Brandom and Emma Caldwell. The No. 1 duo of Claire Cherry and Josee King followed seconds later, winning by the same score against Chloe Steinke and Mia Meiers.
Megan Long followed minutes later with a win at No. 1 singles, claiming the match for the Dragons and punching their ticket to the semifinals. Long topped freshman Abby Cruser, 6-1, 6-1.
The Dragons got their fourth and final point of the night from No. 3 singles, with Eliza Adams topping the Arabians’ Madison Painter, 6-1, 6-2.
The only point New Palestine lost was at No. 2 singles. Nicole Wernimont battled Lauren Marsh for the second time in six days after winning 6-0, 6-7(7), 10-1 in a super-tiebreaker on Friday.
Wednesday’s first set was much of the same, with Marsh winning narrowly. The second set was quicker, as Wernimont fell, 5-7, 1-6.
New Palestine came into the match with some extra momentum after sweeping the Arabians on their own courts so recently.
“Definitely they were more confident,” Graham said. “Royce (Hammel, Pendleton Heights’ coach) has got a young team. He lost five seniors last year and we’re playing with five seniors. They’re going to be good in a year or two, but our seniors knew that we had the advantage.”
Up next for the Dragons is a familiar-yet-unfamiliar county foe, Eastern Hancock. New Palestine matched up with the Royals at two positions in the county tournament, with Cherry and King topping Chloe McCarty and Bella Witte at No. 1 doubles and Long topping Chelsi McMahan at No. 1 singles.
The Dragons have big goals for the sectional, but they are not looking ahead to a potential championship match against either five-time defending champion Mt. Vernon or the team that eliminated them a year ago, Greenfield-Central.
“We’re not overlooking Eastern,” Graham said. “We haven’t seen them head-on. I like our chances, but we’re not going to overlook ‘em. We’re going to come out focused, ready to play. We’d love to get to the championship game. We’ve got six seniors that would love to do that, so that’s our goal, for them to try to get there and compete.”
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With Wednesday’s New Palestine win, the Mt. Vernon sectional semifinals are set to feature two county vs. county matches. The matches will start at 5 p.m., with the winners meeting Friday at 5 p.m. for a sectional title.
Sectional semifinals
Eastern Hancock vs. New Palestine
Mt. Vernon vs. Greenfield-Central
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