NEW PALESTINE — When it comes to boys tennis, the New Palestine Dragons haven’t left room for much debate.
With 11 total county titles — including nine in a row — and seven straight sectional titles, the Dragons have been the class of Hancock County for nearly a decade.
They don’t plan on that changing any time soon.
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“These boys don’t want to be the team that breaks that streak. That’s our motivation right now,” New Palestine coach Jean Graham said. “They’re working hard. The football team does well, the softball team does well, so they want to do well. Success kind of breeds success, and I think it’s rubbed off on them as well.”
This year, though, the Dragons are in the midst of what Graham said is a “major rebuilding program.” All three singles players from last year have graduated, as has one of the No. 1 doubles pairing from a season ago.
That includes Matthew True, the Hancock County Player of the Year, who went a perfect 24-0 in county play during his career and finished with a 76-17 record at New Palestine.
Stepping into those very big shoes will be senior Ben Blachly. Blachly was injured last year and played as part of the No. 1 doubles team that won a county title. This year, the plan is for him to step into the leading role.
Blachly has been working toward this moment for years, now. He’s looking forward to the opportunity to step into the top singles position.
“It’s exciting. I’ve been waiting a couple of years and I think I’m ready,” Blachly said. “Obviously I’ve got some big shoes to fill, but I’ve definitely learned a lot playing with Matt. He’s been a great friend.”
From there, the Dragons have four players currently vying for the No. 2 and No. 3 singles positions, including junior Ethan Haeberle, who played doubles last year, and sophomore Colin Darley, who won the JV county tournament at No. 1 singles in 2018.
Jeremy Wagoner, another senior, was a runner-up in the county last year with Haeberle at No. 1 doubles. Wagoner is expected to be a leading candidate for a spot on the No. 1 doubles team this season.
There are plenty of question marks and holes in the lineup, but the Dragons have some depth with a big, talented sophomore class.
The Dragons finished 18-4 a season ago, their 6-1 mark in conference play good for second place. However the final varsity lineup shakes out, they are ready for the opportunity to continue their success and defend both of their long streaks.
“Right now, we want to win our 12th county title, we want to win our eighth sectional, and we want to get into regional and make some noise,” Graham said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to get to where we want to be. We’re up for the challenge, I think.”
Cougars look to claw back
The Greenfield-Central Cougars are on a mission in 2019.
After a disappointing 2018 that saw the team finish with a 7-12 record and go winless in Hoosier Heritage Conference play, the Cougars are looking at this year a bit differently.
“I think this year, we’re kind of on a little bit more of a mission,” Greenfield-Central coach Michael Turpin said. “Our record definitely was not as good as I think it could have been last year. We’re out here each and every day just trying to take it a match at a time and work our way into where we think we should be. It’s kind of a ‘get back to where we think we belong’ kind of season.”
The Cougars will do that with about half of their varsity lineup returning from a season ago. Four players are back — seniors Seth Kirkpatrick, Colin Hunt and Kane Bradley, along with sophomore Robbie Dye.
Expected to join the four returning players in the varsity lineup is junior Nick Grandstaff, leaving two spots open. The Cougars have six total seniors and a large roster to fill in the gaps.
How the singles and doubles positions shake out remains to be seen, but Turpin does have his No. 1 singles position figured out. Kirkpatrick, who played both doubles positions and No. 3 singles a year ago, is slated to take over the top spot for Greenfield-Central.
The versatility Kirkpatrick showed last year is something he believes is a strength of the team as a whole this season.
“We’re a lot more conditioned than last year,” Kirkpatrick said. “We have four people coming back on varsity, so we just need to fill three spots, and we have people to do that. We have a lot of people to fill in different spots — we have a very interchangeable team.”
After finishing third in the county and getting eliminated in the sectional semifinals a year ago, the Cougars are ready to take a step forward as they look to challenge the Dragons’ dominance.
Royals bring experience edge
They may be the smallest of the Hancock County schools, but the Eastern Hancock Royals hold an important edge on their county counterparts this year. While the rest of the county has to replace their No. 1 singles players and about half of their varsity lineups, the Royals return almost everyone.
They may not hold the same positions this year — that’s still to be determined — but Eastern Hancock brings back its No. 1 and No. 3 singles players from last year, along with half of the No. 1 doubles team and the whole No. 2 doubles duo.
The Royals were a young team last year, with half of their roster made up of freshman or sophomores. That year of experience has coach Tom Huff feeling optimistic that the team can greatly improve on its 3-11 mark from 2018.
“I think everybody is hitting the ball really well,” he said. “We’ve got so many people hitting the ball well as far as the topspin and everything. If we can just get them all to be more consistent, I think we’re going to win matches.”
Huff, who also coaches the girls team, has a similar goal to what he had for his spring squad. He wanted to see them win at least half of their matches, which they did.
He thinks his boys team can do the same.
The Royals will be bolstered by three seniors, Sam Blocher, Brady Ellis and Drake Smith, along with returning junior Kodey Huff, who played No. 1 singles last year.
Kodey Huff is a possibility at No. 1 singles again this year, but the Eastern Hancock lineup is still very much undecided with the season more than a week away.
Eastern Hancock has several sophomores back, including Nolan Stout and Nate Cape, and has several promising freshman that could crack the varsity lineup.
Despite amassing just three wins last year, the Royals finished second in the Mid-Eastern Conference a year after finishing third. They hope to take the final step in the MEC this year and bring home a conference title.
Kodey Huff finished as runner-up at No. 1 singles in both the MEC and county meets a year ago. He was the only Eastern Hancock player to advance to the championship round of the county tournament, something his coach hopes changes this year.
“I’d like to see progress from last year,” Tom Huff said. “Let’s step it up and get in the final round. That would be pretty cool if we could get to that final in several of those positions.”
Marauders ready for road challenge
The Mt. Vernon Marauders face a challenge unique among county teams this season — they’ll play a full schedule with the possibility that they never step foot on their home court.
The school is in the middle of building brand new tennis courts, a badly-needed improvement for the Marauders tennis program. They hope to have the new courts ready in time to host sectional play this fall, but until that point, the boys tennis team will be traveling for everything.
They are currently practicing at Hamilton Southeastern Intermediate in Fishers. They’ve switched their entire schedule to be nothing but away matches. It’s a challenge, but it’s one the Marauders appear ready to tackle.
“First off, I think the mindset is that we’ve got to enjoy this journey every single day. We’re in a different world, a different beast,” Mt. Vernon coach Gabe Muterspaugh said. “The logistics of what we’re trying to do kind of throws a wrinkle in it. We travel every single day. There can’t be any downtime.”
Instead of practicing immediately after school, there’s now a gap before traveling to HSE. The Marauders have been taking that opportunity to work on their conditioning as they look to improve on last year’s 16-4 record and second-place finish in the HHC (5-2).
Adding to the challenge is the fact that the Marauders have to replace five of their seven varsity positions from a year ago. They have a big group of players to pull from off last year’s JV squad, which finished 16-2.
Five or six players are battling for the three singles spots, with returning No. 2 player Chris Hays currently holding the edge for the No. 1 spot this season. Battling him for the top spot is junior Haiden Rose. Another junior, Joe Bowsher, has come out of nowhere, Muterspaugh said, and is likely to earn a singles spot.
While the singles positions are mostly set but still a bit in flux, the doubles positions appear fully settled.
Jackson Dunlavy is back from last year’s team and should slot in at No. 1 doubles this year after playing No. 2 a year ago. He’ll pair with Dallas Turner, who went 18-1 last year at the No. 1 JV doubles position. Turner’s former JV partner, Justin Lemke, will slot into the No. 2 doubles team with Reece Powell.
Dunlavy, Lemke and Powell are this year’s captains, giving the Marauders a lot of leadership and stability at the doubles spots as they look to finally get over the New Palestine hurdle.
Mt. Vernon has the same goals as a year ago — win county and sectional, and try to win an HHC title.
“The word is GRIT this year; Greatness Resides in Teammates,” Muterspaugh said. “We are feeding off of each other every single day right now. It’s one for all and all for one. We’re going to need to win as a team this year.”