Mt. Vernon’s Kylie Brandes returns serve during her Hancock County tournament match at Mt. Vernon on Friday, April 22, 2022. (Tom Russo/Daily Reporter)
FORTVILLE — With victories in three championship matches late Friday night, Mt. Vernon’s girls tennis team clinched its 12th straight Hancock County Tournament championship.
With title matches still on the court at No. 2 singles and No. 3 singles, the Marauders had already accumulated enough team points to secure another title.
Mt. Vernon had 26 points. New Palestine had 10, Eastern Hancock 9 and Greenfield-Central 7 with two matches and eight points remaining.
Though the final team scores may not indicate, going into the finals, the biggest obstacle to the Marauders’ reign did not come from their neighboring Hoosier Heritage Conference rivals, but from the county’s smallest school, Eastern Hancock, which had participants in three of five championship matches.
Only champion Mt. Vernon had more in the finals with four. New Palestine had two in the finals and Greenfield-Central had one.
The Marauders won both head-to-head finals matchup against the Royals.
At No. 1 singles, freshman Kylie Brandes beat Eastern Hancock Italian exchange-student Bianca Di Vittorio in a third-set super tiebreaker, 6-4, 3-6, 10-7.
At No. 1 doubles, Marauder seniors Maddie Swingle and Shay Shipley defeated the Eastern Hancock tandem of Savanah Hardin and Lexi Swauger 6-3, 6-4.
Additionally, Mt. Vernon won at No. 2 doubles. Liv Lugo and Addy Lockwood defeated New Palestine’s Lily Haeberle and Bethany Blachly 6-2, 6-4.
The No. 2 singles match between New Palestine’s Olivia Hasenkamp and Eastern Hancock French exchange-student Violette Sagalowicz was in the third set at press time. Also, Mt. Vernon’s Anna Hawks and Greenfield-Central’s Brianna McConnell were still on the court competing for the No. 3 singles title.
Mt. Vernon was playing without No. 2 singles player Carly Wilkerson, who left a Thursday match against Greenfield-Central by injury default.
Also, Cecelia Bulmahn, an NCAA Division I volleyball recruit for Southern Illinois University as well as part of the Marauders No. 1 doubles team, was out of town on a volleyball-related trip.
Both Meredith Johnson, who picked up a third-place finish at No. 2 doubles and Lockwood, who joined Lugo, who normally plays No. 1 with Bulmahn, on the No. 2 doubles team were new to the lineup.
With Johnson getting third-place points (two), the Marauders scored in all five divisions.
Greenfield-Central suffered a tough loss in their first round No. 2 singles match as Jaclyn Layton, with the score tied 6-6 in the first set against Hasenkamp, had to retire due to injury.
Going on simultaneously with the varsity tournament, Mt. Vernon won the junior varsity county title with 24 points, edging New Palestine, which totaled 23. Greenfield-Central scored eight and Eastern Hancock finished with five.
