SEYMOUR – Bedford North Lawrence won a three-set battle at No.2 doubles while recording a tough 3-2 win over Trinity Lutheran in the first round of the IHSAA sectional at Seymour on Wednesday.
The Stars (8-14) advanced to face Brownstown in the semifinal, while Seymour will tangle with Jennings County in the opposite bracket.
BNL’s Gavin Baker and Jackson Corey won the deciding point. After dropping a first-set tiebreaker, they rallied for a 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-1 victory over Drew Kerkhof and Luke Schepman.
“I’m really excited for Gavin and Jackson,” BNL coach Chris Kurtz said. “After letting the first set go, they trailed 5-4 in the second and had to fight off a match point in that game to get it back to 5-5.
“I think only other two matches going ended while they were on break between the second and third sets, so they knew the match would be decided by that one set. Those two showed up, and only lost a handful of points the rest of the way.”
BNL also won two singles matches. Jayden Kemp conquered Solomon Hall 6-4, 6-4 at No.1, while Isaac Bridges cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win over Will Gausman at No.3.
“It was a back-and-forth, exciting match from the start,” Kurtz said. “Neither team had a super clear advantage, and it really could have gone either way on nearly every court. Slow starts have continued to plague us this season, and we just didn’t have our best tennis again tonight. Except for Isaac, he was locked in from go.
“We’re happy to be moving on to tomorrow.”
Trinity’s Jack Stuckwisch stopped Orion Hill 6-3, 6-2 at No.2 singles, and the No.1 doubles tandem of Nathan Finke and Jonathan Neawedde topped BNL’s Drew Stephenson and Neal Patel 7-5, 6-1 at No.1 doubles.
BNL will face Brownstown on Thursday. The Braves bounced the Stars 4-1 during the regular-season meeting on Sept. 7.
IHSAA SECTIONAL
First round at Seymour
BNL 3, Trinity Lutheran 2
Singles
1 Jayden Kemp, BNL d. Solomon Hall 6-4, 6-4
2 Jack Stuckwisch, TL d. Orion Hill 6-3, 6-2
3 Isaac Bridges, BNL d. Will Gausman 6-0, 6-0
Doubles
1 Nathan Finke and Jonathan Neawedde, TL d. Drew Stephenson and Neal Patel 7-5, 6-1
2 Gavin Baker and Jackson Corey, BNL d. Drew Kerkhof and Luke Schepman 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-1
