The girls tennis sectional championship match is set at Seymour.
The host Owls and Scottsburg both blanked their opponents in Thursday’s semifinals to advance to today’s finals.
Seymour defeated rival Brownstown Central 5-0, while Scottsburg topped Trinity Lutheran by the same score.
Seymour (14-5) defeated Scottsburg 4-1 on April 11 at home.
On Thursday, the Owls and Warriors won all of their points in straight sets.
In the closest match of the day, Seymour’s Hallie Crenshaw topped Laken Reynolds 6-2, 7-5 at No. 1 singles.
“It was really good for Hallie to come out and play aggressively and be able to hit hard and have some really strong serves tonight at No. 1 singles. It was a good finish for her,” Owls coach Jennifer Miller said. “She got behind early (in the second set), and she came back and in those last three games was able to take it 7-5.”
Braves coach Erik Stangland said it was a competitive match, but he didn’t feel like Reynolds was ever in her game.
“Hallie played more of Laken’s game than Laken did,” he said. “It was a really difficult match to watch because Hallie did what she needed to do to beat Laken, and Laken just couldn’t get into a rhythm, but she hustled and she played all the points, so I don’t want to take away from her.
“Next year, it could be a totally different situation with anybody else out here,” he said. “Laken looks like she is going to have a good year, and we want to come back with a positive. We have a lot to build on and a lot to look forward to.”
Seymour dominated the other four positions. Megan Baurle topped Carly Brown 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 singles, and Kelli Armes was a 6-0, 6-0 winner over Riley Roberts at No. 3 singles.
Addie Rudge and Katie O’Mara blanked Rachel Adkins and Olivia Hackman at No. 1 doubles, and Rachel Collett and Grace Otte defeated Claudia Sibrel and Sydney Cockerham 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 doubles.
“It was a good finish to the second round,” Miller said. “We played very well across all five positions. Our No. 1 doubles came out real strong tonight. I think they were the first ones off. Megan Baurle and Kelli Armes had very strong finishes in singles.”
Stangland said his team just didn’t play strong.
“We went back to everything that was what we had done before,” he said. “When we play like that, we have to work so hard to win points, and we give the other team lots of opportunities, and that really hurt us tonight.
“At no position did we have anybody that was sharp and was hitting the ball like they need to,” he said. “They went back to old habits, so I’m going to blame it on inexperience. We played a good team, a solid team. Hopefully next year, we come back and we have a lot of talent and we can get this going in the other direction. Next year looks really promising.”
The Braves, with no seniors on the roster, finished 7-10.
Trinity coach Mark Voss said the Cougars had trouble finishing points. Courtney Barker lost 6-0, 6-0 to Leah Hunefeld at No. 1 singles, Abby Schult dropped a 6-0, 6-2 match to Megan Johnson at No. 2 singles and Leah Stuckwisch lost 6-3, 6-1 to Eliza Mount at No. 3 singles.
Scottsburg’s Alexa Howser and Paige Crites defeated Macey Prewitt and Lauren Fleetwood 6-2, 6-1 at No. 1 doubles, and Kinley Harmon and Kaytie Ray topped Lauren Voss and Sidney Hoene 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2 doubles.
“In the second set on No. 1 and No. 2 doubles and No. 2 singles, we played really well,” Voss said. “We came back and showed a little life, fought and got a couple games, and especially on all three of those courts, we were in the single game all the way to the end, and we had so many deuce points. We had many ad ins and ad outs.
“It’s kind of the story of our season,” he said. “We just can’t get that one point that it takes to flip the card. We’re just right there, but we just can’t get over the hump. I was hoping maybe we could change that tonight. We played, and we competed.”
Voss looks for a competitive championship match.
“They’re a pretty good team,” Voss said of Scottsburg. “They’re going to give Seymour fits on a couple of matches.”
The Cougars finished with a record of 2-11.