Sep. 11—FAIRMOUNT — Madison-Grant tennis coach Tony Pitt readily admits his team is in a position it never expected to be at the start of the year, particularly after losing two top singles players.
“Going into this season, it wasn’t a matter of if we were going to keep the (Central Indiana Conference) traveling trophy. It was when were we going to give it up?” he said. “It’s just a testament to their work ethic and this summer, knowing that we were going to be losing some players, stepping up and competing for a title that, on paper we probably shouldn’t be competing for.”
But, in dramatic fashion, his Argylls are in control of their own destiny, seeking their third straight CIC championship.
Madison-Grant rallied behind its No. 2 singles player, Ben Pax, as he fought back from the brink of defeat to pull out a three-set win over Jon Hobbs of Frankton, and the Argylls knocked off the Eagles 3-2 to remain unbeaten in CIC play.
Certainly, nothing is clinched yet. But with wins over Mississinewa and Frankton already in their pockets, the Argylls figure to be heavily favored in their final two conference matches against Elwood and Alexandria.
Pax, who played doubles on last year’s team, said the success this season says plenty about the toughness and tenacity of the players.
“It says we have a lot of quality people who are willing to fight and get it done,” Pax said.
Without some resiliency on Pax’s part, that spot in the conference driver’s seat would have been occupied by Frankton.
The Eagles put the first two points of the night on the board in rather quick fashion. Eli Coxe whitewashed Leo Hood 6-0, 6-0 in the No. 3 singles match while Ja’Von Miller and Jackson Alexander routed Keagan Brown and Lucas Richards 6-1, 6-0 in the No. 1 doubles match.
It took nearly two full hours of match play before the Argylls were on the board when Luke Gilman improved to 13-0 on the season, defeating Aaron Hartley by a deceptive 6-1, 6-1 score.
“Aaron played really well,” Pitt said. “Don’t look at the score. Look at the times. That match began at 5 o’clock and they come off the court at 6:45, so it’s an hour and 45 minutes until we get our first point.”
As Gilman’s match was drawing to a close, the dramatic conclusion of the overall matchup was just beginning as both the No. 2 doubles and No. 2 singles matches began their third sets.
The Argylls’ doubles team of Lucas Querry and Luke Nelson were the first to finish, closing out Frankton’s Eli Birch and Braxton Mort 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to even the score at 2-2.
Pitt credited Querry’s ability to stay calm and show senior leadership with helping the duo come out on top.
“They’re just so together, and they cheer each other on. It’s great,” Pitt said. “I’ll give Lucas Querry a lot of credit with lifting up Luke Nelson, who is such a fighter. They’ve really gelled.”
After Pax took the first set 6-4, Hobbs jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second before closing it out 6-3 to force the third set.
Hobbs was in control of the third, breaking Pax’s serve to grab a 5-4 lead, and was serving for the match.
Pax knew he just had to stay focused.
“It was one point at a time,” he said. “I knew that if I put pressure on him, he would make a mistake, so that’s why I was coming to the net.”
Aided in part by a Hobbs double-fault, Pax broke back to even the set at 5-5 and, after holding serve himself, suddenly found himself up 6-5 with a chance to win the match.
He knew what was on the line.
“I just wanted to give it my all, give it 100%,” Pax said. “I just need to know that I wanted it more than him, even if he was playing better than me.”
Again, he came through, breaking Hobbs’ serve and finishing off the 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 win, leading the team to mob Pax on the court after the match.
“I told him between the second and third sets that there is no one else I’d want in this situation,” Pitt said. “We knew coming into the season that, with all the players we had lost, he would be manning one of those singles spots.”
Frankton hosts Madison County champion Lapel on Thursday while Madison-Grant will host the Argyll Invitational on Saturday morning.
Contact Rob Hunt at
rob.hunt@heraldbulletin.com
or 765-640-4886.
