Indians win four courts against London
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
HILLSBORO — The Hillsboro Indians boys tennis team not only defeated their South Central Ohio League counterpart London on a sunny afternoon at Hillsboro High School, but the Indians won in convincing fashion, playing their best SCOL match to date. The Indians won four courts against their league counterpart, including all three singles matches and one of two doubles matches.
The closest contest match was first singles between Hillsboro sophomore Reese Leibreich and London's Eric Gunthorp. The match took three sets, including a tie-breaker in the third and final set where Leibreich took control for the win.
Leibreich wasn't going to be denied, though he had to use two separate rackets and overcame a swollen finger to gain the SCOL win.
"Reese is in just his second year at the high school level. Last year he was third singles and was all-league," HHS head coach LaRue Turner said. "He's been doing well and had a heck of a match (Thursday)."
In the match, he used a variety of power swings to gain points, but Gunthorp didn't make things easy for the HHS sophomore.
The first set took a total of 10 games for Leibreich to come out the winner. He lost the first game but rallied back to win four straight games, including a third game win where he ended it with an ace. In the sixth game of the first set, Gunthorp faced deuce two before gaining the game win.
Gunthorp won two of the next three games, but the sixth game was won by Leibreich, winning the first set 6-4.
The second set belonged to the Red Raiders as Gunthorp won six straight games for a 6-0 win. In the set, the London first singles player scored the first points in each of the six games.
The most competitive set of the three was the final set, which was forced into a tiebreaker where Leibreich won 7-6.
In the first game of the third set, Gunthorp scored four straight points for the game win. That was followed with five straight game wins by Leibreich for a 5-1 lead, needing just one more game win for the match victory.
London's Gunthorp wasn't going down that easily as he won the net five games, taking a 6-5 advantage in the set.
Leibreich came back, forcing a tie, which meant a tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker, the first to score seven points, was dominated by the HHS sophomore, who won 7-1 for the set and match win.
"Reese is still young, and these types of matches are something he's going to have to learn from," Turner said. "He'll learn to calm down."
In second singles, senior Ben Rhoads dominated his match, winning with set victories of 7-5 and 6-2 over London's Ryan Homeier.
"This is Ben's first year as a singles player. He played three years as a doubles player and did well there," Turner said. "He's coming along with his singles play and did really well (Thursday)."
Hillsboro's Colton Wertsbaugh won in two sets over Jacob Clarke (LHS) 6-0, 6-2 for the two-set third singles win.
"He's playing his first year in singles, and he's won 75 percent of his matches this season," Turner said. "He's coming along and playing with a force."
The first doubles team of Alex Rhoads and Stanley Lannigan teamed up to defeat Tyler Cox and Eli Gladman 6-0, 6-2.
"With Stanley being a senior and Alex being a freshman, Stanley's varsity experience allows us to have this duo," Turner said. "Stanley has played four years at doubles and is good at it. The combo worked well (Thursday)."
The lone HHS loss was in second doubles when Erik Thomas and DJ Fisher (LHS) defeated Patrick Shanahan and Cody Pollard of Hillsboro, 6-3, 6-2.
Turner talked about how it was big for the Indians to win four courts for the first time this season in SCOL play.
"This is really good for us," he said. "To win the championship, it is based on the number of courts you win in league matches. Again, this was good for us. Hopefully we can do this again at their place."
HHS and London play again next Tuesday at LHS. On Monday, the Indians will host the Miami Trace Panthers.[[In-content Ad]]
The closest contest match was first singles between Hillsboro sophomore Reese Leibreich and London's Eric Gunthorp. The match took three sets, including a tie-breaker in the third and final set where Leibreich took control for the win.
Leibreich wasn't going to be denied, though he had to use two separate rackets and overcame a swollen finger to gain the SCOL win.
"Reese is in just his second year at the high school level. Last year he was third singles and was all-league," HHS head coach LaRue Turner said. "He's been doing well and had a heck of a match (Thursday)."
In the match, he used a variety of power swings to gain points, but Gunthorp didn't make things easy for the HHS sophomore.
The first set took a total of 10 games for Leibreich to come out the winner. He lost the first game but rallied back to win four straight games, including a third game win where he ended it with an ace. In the sixth game of the first set, Gunthorp faced deuce two before gaining the game win.
Gunthorp won two of the next three games, but the sixth game was won by Leibreich, winning the first set 6-4.
The second set belonged to the Red Raiders as Gunthorp won six straight games for a 6-0 win. In the set, the London first singles player scored the first points in each of the six games.
The most competitive set of the three was the final set, which was forced into a tiebreaker where Leibreich won 7-6.
In the first game of the third set, Gunthorp scored four straight points for the game win. That was followed with five straight game wins by Leibreich for a 5-1 lead, needing just one more game win for the match victory.
London's Gunthorp wasn't going down that easily as he won the net five games, taking a 6-5 advantage in the set.
Leibreich came back, forcing a tie, which meant a tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker, the first to score seven points, was dominated by the HHS sophomore, who won 7-1 for the set and match win.
"Reese is still young, and these types of matches are something he's going to have to learn from," Turner said. "He'll learn to calm down."
In second singles, senior Ben Rhoads dominated his match, winning with set victories of 7-5 and 6-2 over London's Ryan Homeier.
"This is Ben's first year as a singles player. He played three years as a doubles player and did well there," Turner said. "He's coming along with his singles play and did really well (Thursday)."
Hillsboro's Colton Wertsbaugh won in two sets over Jacob Clarke (LHS) 6-0, 6-2 for the two-set third singles win.
"He's playing his first year in singles, and he's won 75 percent of his matches this season," Turner said. "He's coming along and playing with a force."
The first doubles team of Alex Rhoads and Stanley Lannigan teamed up to defeat Tyler Cox and Eli Gladman 6-0, 6-2.
"With Stanley being a senior and Alex being a freshman, Stanley's varsity experience allows us to have this duo," Turner said. "Stanley has played four years at doubles and is good at it. The combo worked well (Thursday)."
The lone HHS loss was in second doubles when Erik Thomas and DJ Fisher (LHS) defeated Patrick Shanahan and Cody Pollard of Hillsboro, 6-3, 6-2.
Turner talked about how it was big for the Indians to win four courts for the first time this season in SCOL play.
"This is really good for us," he said. "To win the championship, it is based on the number of courts you win in league matches. Again, this was good for us. Hopefully we can do this again at their place."
HHS and London play again next Tuesday at LHS. On Monday, the Indians will host the Miami Trace Panthers.[[In-content Ad]]