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Logansport’s boys tennis team proved once again that it’s the best team from top to bottom in its sectional field.
The Berries won their sixth consecutive sectional title Saturday by defeating Lewis Cass 3-2 and then Twin Lakes 4-1 at the LHS tennis courts.
“It was a good day,” Logan coach Mike Montgomery said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”
And it wasn’t, as the Berries (14-6) got two three-set wins in the title match against Twin Lakes. Plus they had to win all three singles matches to beat the Kings (8-9).
Against Twin Lakes, Cory Rozzi defeated Jordan Crabb 1-6, 6-0, 6-4 at No. 2 singles, and Bryan Zehner outlasted Ryan Connell 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 at No. 3 singles.
“Give Twin Lakes credit,” Montgomery said. “In our first two meetings Crabb hardly took any games against Cory. Cory wasn’t ready mentally. He thought it was going to be easy. The same thing with Bryan. They both got caught in their first sets.
“I didn’t have a great feeling halfway through. Cory’s point was the clincher. Bryan was in the last match of the day.”
Logan swept the doubles spots against Twin Lakes, as Matt Turner and Dustin Clements defeated Luke Mowery and Adam Crabb 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1, and Owen Swartzell and Tanner Gellinger defeated Cole Guingrich and Sam Hickman by an identical score at No. 2.
“We beat Twin Lakes because of our doubles,” Montgomery said.
Austin Johanning was defeated by Brian Moore 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 singles for the Indians’ lone point of the match. Moore advanced to the Kokomo individual sectional with the win.
“The Moore kid has improved drastically in one year,” Montgomery said.
Against Cass, Johanning defeated Kyle Williams 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, Rozzi defeated Riley Johnson 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 and Zehner defeated Chris Laudenschlager 6-0, 6-4 at No. 3 to secure the win for the Berries.
“We had Chris at No. 3 singles and I thought he did a good job,” Cass coach Brian Thomas said. “He had a slow start back came back and fought pretty hard in that second set. I thought it was going to go to a third set.”
Zehner recently returned from a broken foot injury that sidelined him most of the season.
“I thought he was out the entire season. It was good that he was able to recover from that,” Thomas said. “He’s a pretty solid singles player.”
Did Zehner’s return make the difference?
“Against Cass it could have been,” Montgomery said. “Owen might have won against Cass at 3 singles if we would have stayed with that lineup. He beat Connell 7-5, 6-4 earlier this season. Having Bryan there you feel comfortable, but he didn’t play lights out by any means. We’re a stronger lineup if he’s in there, that’s for sure.”
Cass’ Tyler Ploss and Isaac Yentes defeated Turner and Clements 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1 doubles, and Josh Harshman and Ryan Aldridge defeated Swartzell and Gellinger 7-6, 6-1 at No. 2.
Ploss and Yentes advanced to Tuesday’s Kokomo individual sectional.
“Our doubles played really well,” Thomas said. “That was the best that both teams have played all season. They started the season strong and got better.
“The last two seasons we’ve been really strong at doubles. I wish there were three doubles spots and two singles spots.”
Logan will face Kokomo at the Kokomo Regional on Tuesday. The Wildkats defeated the Berries 5-0 during the regular season.
“We didn’t play real well,” Montgomery said of that match. “Rozzi was the only one who had a good shot of winning there. He could have won there. We played them tight at No. 1 doubles, but the opponent played well to win there. Hopefully Austin will play better at 1.
“We’ll have to play really well to win.”
