NorthWood Tennis: Concord Ousts Panthers In Regional
MIDDLEBURY – The Concord girls tennis team turned the tables on NorthWood in a big way Tuesday night.
The Minutemen reversed a regular-season loss to the Panthers in posting a 5-0 win in a semifinal match of the rain-delayed Northridge Regional.
Concord, now 12-2, will meet Central Noble (16-1) in the regional title tilt Wednesday night at Northridge at 5 p.m. The winner earns a spot in the championship match of the Homestead Semistate on Saturday at 10 a.m. versus the winner of the Indianapolis North Central Regional.
Concord, which was in the regional for the first time since 2003, dropped a 4-1 final to NorthWood in a Northern Lakes Conference match back in April. The Panthers picked up three wins in that close contest in three sets.
It was the Minutemen who won the close matches this time around in the rematch Tuesday night, which included a rain delay of about 90 minutes shortly after play had started.
Coach Jan Soward’s Concord squad claimed a pair of three-set wins, both of them by a 7-6 count on a tiebreaker in the decisive set.
Alana Brubaker and Regan Landis won in straight sets at No. 1 and 2 singles respectively for Concord. Brusker topped Alex Jesse 6-3, 6-2 and Landis beat Reegan Miller 6-2, 6-2.
The Minutemen won in straight sets at No. 2 doubles as the team of Allison Murphy and Meaghan Godzisz defeated Betsy Nunemaker and Katie Troyer 6-1, 6-1.
The No. 3 singles court and the No. 1 doubles match were both tight at the end. Maya Klopfenstein beat Hannah Walter 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4) at No. 3 singles. The Concord duo of Keegan Thursby and Emma Westlake outlasted Jama Rice and Kennedy Wiens 6-1, 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-5) at No, 1 doubles action.
NorthWood, making its first regional appearance since 2009 under coach Tif Schwartz, finishes at 14-4.
Central Noble beat Angola 4-1 in the other semifinal match Tuesday night. The Cougars won their first-ever sectional championship last week.
Concord will be playing for just the second regional title in program history with the lone one coming back in 1992.