Tennis Team Ousted In Sectional
09 Oct 2008

The boys’ tennis team gave Peru all they wanted, but in the end, it was the Tigers ousting the Squires from the first round of sectional play last week.
The Squires had been counting on at least two singles wins most matches this season, and that is what they got Thursday night. Unlike most matches, however, it wasn’t Kyle Lahman and Scott Spaulding hauling in the wins, but Spaulding and Dale Ruppert.
Ruppert won his fourth match of the year at three singles, pulling out a 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4 win, while Spaulding held on for a 6-2, 6-4 win at two singles.
Lahman stayed close with Peru’s Dan Mulloy, but eventually lost 6-4, 6-1.
“Kyle played a great first set, but Mulloy is a tough player and stopped making mistakes,” assistant coach Eric Christiansen said. “Kyle had a great season, but I know is upset about this match. Hopefully he will hold onto this feeling and use it as motivation to improve even more for next year.
“I couldn’t be happier with Scott’s play,” Christiansen continued. “He is a much smarter player than he was even two months ago. He played a great match.
“Dale is such a fighter and has worked hard to get where he is,” he added. “He’ll admit that he doesn’t have the talent of Kyle and Scott, but there is noone with a bigger heart and more determination than Dale, and that is what got him this win.”
The number two doubles team of Jacob Kincaid and Jared Christiansen dropped the first set 6-0, but battled back before losing 6-4 in the second, while the team of Josh Troyer and Erik Hand lost 6-0, 6-0.
“Our doubles teams are inexperienced, with all of them playing varsity tennis for the first time,” Christiansen said. “They kept great attitudes all season and just kept getting better.”
The Squires were playing without their head coach, Sarah Conwell, who started her accounting job in Indianapolis the day before sectional.
“Sarah did a great job in her first coaching situation,” Christiansen. “She worked the guys hard, was tough on them, but they really enjoyed her, and were lucky to have her as a coach. I think they really responded to her as the season went on. They all got better, and that says great things about the players and the coach.”
The tennis team finishes the season with a 2-12 record and loses seniors Spaulding, Ruppert, and Troyer.