BOYS' TENNIS SECTIONAL: Greencastle, South Putnam exit after opening round losses

MOORESVILLE — All of Putnam County's tennis hopes were sent out to the 10 courts at Mooresville High School Thursday night as Greencastle battled the host Pioneers and South Putnam faced off with Martinsville in the opening round of the IHSAA Mooresville Boys' Tennis Sectional.

Both county teams saw their seasons come to an end as the Tiger Cubs fell 4-1 to the Pioneers and the Eagles by the same score to the Artesians.

South Putnam saw two matches go into third set tiebreaks with the No. 2 doubles pair of Robert Emmerich and Jackson Webster defeating Hayden Murphy and Wyatt Niese 6-2, 5-7, 10-6.

The other tiebreak saw Aiden Brinkman rally after a 6-1 first set loss to Landon Huston, winning the second set 7-5 before falling 10-1 in the tiebreak at No. 3 singles.

Elsewhere, seniors Grant Jackman and Brayden Pollack battled but fell 6-4, 6-3 to Jamison Crabb and Clay Crismore at No. 1 doubles while William Schurter fell 6-2, 6-4 at No. 2 singles to Keller Boyd and Luke Hutcheson fell 6-0, 6-1 to Carter Dawson at No. 1 singles.

"It was almost identical to our regular season match," South Putnam head coach Johnnie Briones said. "Luke gave it his all but could not overcome his opponent. We will definitely miss him as he has been with us for four years.

"William also lost in straight sets but I can't say enough about his work ethic and dedication to our tennis team. I'm ooking forward to his senior year. Aiden struggled in his first set but proud of how he fought back and won the second set.

"The No. 1 doubles match went back and forth all evening, but the ball just didn't bounce our way," Briones added. "No. 2 doubles got the lone win in three sets. Easily winning the first, they struggled in the second only to fight back and win the third.

"We're going to miss our seniors Luke, Grant and Brayden. I can't thank them enough for all their efforts and we're looking forward to the future of Eagle tennis."