Triton’s Connor Large hits a shot at the 2 singles position earlier this year. (Photo by James Costello)

TRITON TAKES TRIO OF ALL-HNAC HONORS

Triton backed up its Hoosier North Athletic Conference co-championship run with a trio of All-HNAC picks as the conference’s tournament concluded Thursday night.

Connor Large beat North Judson-San Pierre’s Gavin Alonso in three competitive sets, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to earn All-HNAC honors at 2 singles, and Tyler Heckaman and Jared Bules put away Bluejays Kyle Burkett and Andrew Attinger in straight, 6-3 sets at 1 doubles to win all-league honors at 1 doubles.

John Gardner suffered a 6-2, 6-1 loss to Haydon Kaminski int he 1 singles finals, while Cole McKinney and Chandler Westafer fell 6-4, 6-2 to Judson’s Payton Cox and Kaydon Grinder in their 2 doubles final. Gavin Greer beat LaVille’s David Clayton 10-3 in their consolation match at 3 singles Thursday.

PANTHERS, ANDERSON IN POSITION

NorthWood continued to beat the drum for its first Northern Lakes Conference tournament title after semi-final rounds of the NLC Championships Thursday afternoon on its home courts.

The Panthers won all four of its semi-final matches to advance to Saturday’s championship round. Wes Troyer and Ben Vincent both won in straight sets to advance at No.1 and No. 2 singles, Vincent in the finals for the second straight year after winning at two singles last fall. Troyer will face Northridge’s Gabe Rodino and Vincent will get Carlos Lichty of Goshen.

NorthWood’s doubles teams are both playing for titles, the one dubs team of Jack Wysong and Landon Holland beating Northridge and the two dubs tandem of Bryce Harner and Treyton Martin disposing of Concord. Waiting in the finals will be Plymouth for the one doubles title and Northridge for the two doubles title.

The No. 3 singles court will have Warsaw’s Hayden Anderson continue his upset run. The unseeded Tiger knocked off No. 4 seed Bennett Christy of Plymouth via shutout to reach the championship, opposite Concord’s Nathan Schraw.

Warsaw had both of its doubles teams win in the consolation bracket to position for fifth place. Both its one and two singles players, Caleb Williams and Trey Williams, lost Thursday.

Wawasee had Zach Leedy and Jack Gibbons earn their first wins of the tournament in the consolation bracket.

The final round of the NLC Championships is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday morning at Concord. In the event of rain or a possible conflict with football being played Saturday, tennis play could be moved to Culver Academy’s indoor courts to finish the tournament.

TIPPECANOE VALLEY 3, MANCHESTER 2

A pair of doubles wins sent Valley to a win over the Squires in North Manchester. Russ Paxton and Ethan Hartman held on for a 6-7 (1), 7-6 (6), 6-2 thrill ride over Justin Hall and Isaac Reichenbach at one doubles. A court over, Cooper Walls and Annakin Pettit also needed a tiebreaker to get past Sam Hupp and Korbin Hensley 7-6 (7), 6-0.

Owen Kirchenstien added a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win at three singles over Ethan Espeset to help seal the win.

Brady Wiley claimed a 6-2, 6-3 win over Payton Mills and Quinn Martin beat Dylan Neese 6-0, 6-1 in singles play for the Squires.

One JV court saw Mason Purvis of Valley defeat Zach France 8-7 (6).

GRACE WOMEN 8, TRINE 1

Grace’s women’s tennis team had little trouble dealing with Trine on Thursday, winning 8-1 on the road.

The Lady Lancers (10-2) reached double-digit wins for the fifth time in program history and for the second straight year under head coach Marcus Moore.

Emily Mast and Dayana Ortega had the closest doubles’ match, winning 8-5 at No. 1 doubles. Carrie Copeland and Jayna Armstrong cruised to an 8-2 win at No. 2 doubles, and Morgan Mast and Gretchen Adams (8-1) were even better at No. 3.

Ortega was nearly perfect at No. 3 singles (6-1, 6-0), and Copeland had almost the same score at No. 2 (6-1, 6-1).

Morgan Mast earned a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 5 singles, Armstrong won 6-4, 6-3 at No. 4, and Shelby Bankson claimed a 7-5, 6-3 victory at No. 6.