Triton’s Kolbie Mason zeroes in on a return against North Judson Wednesday afternoon. (Photos by Mike Deak)

BOURBON – The race was on, sort of, Wednesday afternoon at the Triton High School tennis courts. With rain on its way and a doubleheader on the docket, Triton and North Judson had to hurry to get in two matches. Triton did its part to speed things up, blowing past North Judson, 5-0, in a zippy first match and continued on by the same score as the rain started to fall during the second match.

To preface, North Judson returned just one player with any tennis experience to its 2016 club while Triton came into the match 5-0 overall and has been rolling. As courts began to move, it was evident how the night was going to go.

Shayla May enjoys her match Wednesday.

Kolbie Mason at No. 2 singles won her first match against Magali Ramos in just 33 minutes, 6-0, 6-0, and continued along in a 6-0, 6-1 second stanza.

Both Triton doubles teams were off the court with straight set wins in round one in about the same amount of time. It took Hannah Wanemacher and Emma Ross just under 45 minutes to dominate Micaela Hounshell and Ashlyn Householder in a 6-0, 6-1 final at No. 1 doubles. Triton’s top duo continued the measure in round two, 6-1, 6-0. The No. 2 doubles team of Megan McFarland and Tatum Thompson settled into a 6-1, 6-0 final against Valene Metzger and Izzy Didonna in a match that the Trojan pair used smart shots to baffle a visually overmatched Blue Jays duo. Match two ended even quicker at 6-0, 6-0.

No. 1 singles saw decent competition, but similar results on the scoreboards attached to the cages. Shayla May and Deanna Yetsko exchanged several decent groundstrokes with one another, and Yetsko even showed penchant for working corners with control. May, however, had far superior baseline rallies, and hung in for a 6-2, 6-1 final in match one, with May closing out the second round in shutout fashion love and love.

“Shayla is playing really well and Kolbie has also really stepped up her game lately,” said Triton head coach Al Peckham. “Either one of them could be the number one. Shayla is the veteran so she stays at number but Kolbie is pretty automatic at two the way she has been playing.”

Emma Ross reacts with a grin after dropping in a point against North Judson.

No. 3 singles for Quinn Downing was much of the same as her teammates up the complex. Downing stayed consistent and didn’t stray far from the recipe of success, which looked to be let Aviana Ahlenius make the mistakes as Downing collected a 6-1, 6-0 win in game one and 6-0, 6-1 in game two.

Happy with the wins, Peckham saw the doubleheader, which was scheduled to make up for a rainout on April 6 of which would have been the season opener, as a necessary chance for extra work.

“I think a day like today benefits both teams in just that we all get in some extra work,” Peckham said. “Some competition is in the beginning stages like North Judson, basically having to restart their program. We have a good, growing program that’s solid. We just need to work through these matches. I told the girls to take that extra step, work on the fundamentals.”

Triton went 2-1 in JV matches against the Blue Jays.

Triton moves to 7-0 overall and 4-0 in the Hoosier North Athletic Conference. Triton has lost just one court in dual matches all season, and will look for HNAC win number five Thursday with a trip to LaVille.

Triton’s Megan McFarland shakes hands with her North Judson opponents after McFarland and Tatum Thompson won their No. 2 doubles match.