FORTVILLE — They didn’t get them all, but they got all they needed.
The Mt. Vernon Marauders advanced to the semifinal round of Mt. Vernon Sectional 47 of the IHSAA Boys Tennis Team State Tournament with a 4-1 victory over Pendleton Heights (6-13) Wednesday.
The Marauders (15-4) swept three singles matches, all in straight sets, and split the two doubles contests.
They will take on Eastern Hancock (13-1) in one of two semifinal matches today starting at 4:30 p.m. at Mt. Vernon High School. It will be an all-Hancock County semifinal with New Palestine (8-10) facing Greenfield-Central (15-4) in the other match. The championship is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Friday.
“You want to get three points,” Mt. Vernon coach Gabe Muterspaugh said. “This match is a hard one because it’s hard not to look past when you’ve beaten a team (5-0) in the regular season. This is where it can be a trap match. I was very proud of our 1, 2, 3 singles taking care of business in straight sets quickly and our No. 2 doubles bouncing back after a tough loss (Monday) against Delta.”
As has been the case in many of the Marauders 15 wins, they got out to a quick lead behind the play of their top two singles players.
No. 1 Adam Koon, a junior, improved to 21-1 on the season with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Pendleton Heights senior Samuel Bowers. At No. 2, sophomore Manny Downs upped his season mark to 18-4 with a 6-0, 6-1 triumph over another sophomore, Austin Perny.
“Their No. 1 is just phenomenal,” Pendleton Heights coach Royce Hammel said. “(Their No. 1 and No. 2) play two different games. (Koon) just rears back and lets it fly. (Downs) is more deliberate, methodical, keeps it in play and works on getting put away shots. It’s nice to be able to go out knowing you have some points before the game starts. (Mt. Vernon) has a good team and they’ll even be better next year.”
Koon’s lone loss was early in the season against Center Grove. Downs has had a couple of hard-fought losses recently, but showed the form Muterspaugh is accustomed to in his win over Perny.
“We talked to Manny about him being an X-factor for us,” Muterspaugh said. “We need Manny to be Manny. We don’t want him being somebody he is not. We want him to be the hibachi grill. We want him to slice and dice and play Manny tennis. Hibachi was on tonight.”
Behind Koon and Downs, the Marauders — just under one hour into the match — were up 2-0. Not long after Downs won his match, the No. 2 doubles tandem of junior Matthew Jones and sophomore Max Orelup clinched the team win with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Pendleton Heights seniors Isaac Elizondo and Benjamin Caldwell.
Playing at No. 3 singles, Mt. Vernon freshman Tate Cougill picked up his initial post season victory with a 6-1, 6-2 triumph over junior Andrew Ritchey.
In the final match on court, Pendleton Heights senior doubles team of Cole Bubenzer and Richard Nielsen defeated Mt. Vernon junior Robbie Moore and freshman Bryndan Wylie 6-3, 7-5.
Though the Arabian team did not advance, Bubenzer and Nielsen will move on to the individual tournament Tuesday at North Central High School.
“You want that 5-0 win, but at the end of the day, you get three points and you get on to the next match,” Muterspaugh said. “Eastern has had a good season. If we play our tennis we should advance and be ready to fight for a sectional (championship). We have to get through Eastern first and they are a very good team.”
The Marauders and Royals met in a few individual contests during the Hancock County Tournament, but have not played a team match this season. Eastern Hancock is coached by Chris Zeilinga, who was an assistant coach for 10 years under Muterspaugh at Mt. Vernon.
