MOUNT VERNON — The Mount Vernon High School boys tennis team just missed out on a victory on Wednesday afternoon at Memorial Park. The Yellow Jackets fell to visiting Mansfield Madison, 3-2.
“I definitely think this is the best we’ve played all year,” said Mount Vernon coach Jeff Jarosz. “When the match started, I didn’t know if we would win as much as we did, so what we did come away with was excellent for us.
“With the matches we’ve played this year, we have won by a lot or lost by a lot,” Jarosz added. “It is nice to have a match with equal competition. Getting the nervous energy out is good for them. They haven’t been in a lot of matches where it was so close. It is good experience for them.”
The first doubles team of Corey Street and Will Teater picked up the first Mount Vernon win, defeating Madison’s Austin Hammett and Mike Kolmensberger rather easily. Street and Teater won Set 1, 6-3, and then cruised to a 6-1 victory in Set 2.
“This feels pretty good because (Tuesday) we had a pretty tough defeat,” said Street. “We weren’t playing as well as we could have. Today, it felt good to get out there, play well and get a win. My partner played really well at the net, and we both got our baseline strokes in. That helped a lot.”
Mount Vernon’s second doubles team of Graham Hughes and Dakota Wolfe weren’t so lucky. The duo fell to Madison’s Preston Bastings and Duncan Llewellyn in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4.
The Yellow Jackets rebounded in singles play. Max Whitney recorded a win over the Rams’ Matt Mawher at third singles by double 6-4 scores. Whitney’s teammate, John Fleming, battled Madison’s Jacob Weston, but fell, 6-3, 6-4, at first singles. That left the chance for victory up to second singles player Alex Shillito.
Shillito looked strong early against the Rams’ Colton Woodreff, winning the first set, 6-4. Woodreff came back to win Set 2 on a 7-3 tiebreaker, however. Shillito, visibly frustrated by the second-set loss, dropped the third set, 6-1.
“Johnny played a really stout competitor, and took seven games from him,” said Jarosz. “Shillito played a guy who I thought may have been more talented than him. He has been our warrior all year, coming through in the clutch. Max took a really good kid out at second singles, and my first doubles team has been the most consistent all year. “
Despite the loss, Jarosz feels good about how his team is playing. For a squad with only one senior, expectations ran low at the start of the season. With a 5-6 record after Wednesday’s match, the Jackets have already exceeded those expectations.
“We are playing a lot better, especially the freshmen,” said Jarosz. “You can see the improvement. Before this season, they had never picked up a racket, and now they are consistently hitting shots and consistently winning games. Everybody is stepping up a lot. We’ve got the (Ohio Capital Conference) coming up and sectionals, and where we thought this was going to be a growing season and a struggle to compete, we are going for third in the conference.”
“Starting out, we only had four returning people, so I was really worried,” said Street. “The level we are playing at right now is incredible for what I was expecting. We are doing much better.”
For the Jackets, the 2009 season is beginning to wind down. They will play at the Ashland Invitational this weekend and have only one more week left in the regular season. Then, they will turn their sights to the league tournament and the postseason.
“We’ve come a long way, but there is still a way to go,” Street said. “I think we will hold our own. There are a lot of good teams out there, and I don’t think we are quite there yet. Hopefully, we will continue to improve.”
