MIDDLEBURY — It’ll be an all-Northeast Corner Conference battle for a girls tennis regional championship.
That’s because Westview and Fairfield picked up victories in regional semifinal action over Concord and Angola, respectively, Tuesday at Northridge High School. The Warriors used a dramatic win at No. 3 singles to beat the Minutemen, 3-2, while the Falcons flexed their depth in beating the Hornets, 4-1.
Wednesday’s regional final will be a rematch of an April 28 encounter between Westview and Fairfield, which the Falcons won 4-1. The Warriors carry a 10-4 overall record into the match, while Fairfield is 15-1.
WESTVIEW 3, CONCORD 2
Bailey Kenner doesn’t know how to quit.
She didn’t Tuesday, even with all the odds stacked against her.
Because of that, her Westview girls tennis team will be playing for a regional championship.
After losing the first set 2-6 and trailing 2-5 in the second set, it seemed as if Kenner was going to lose her No. 3 singles match to Concord freshman Landry Schrock, which would’ve given the Minutemen the overall victory and advance them to the regional final.
Instead, the Westview junior rallied, winning the next three games of the second set to tie it at five. After Schrock won the next game to go up 6-5, the two battled in a game that featured 14 deuce points, seven of which then turned into match points for Schrock.
That “never say die” mentality persisted for Kenner, though, as she finally broke through to win the game and force a tiebreak. She went down 7-6 in the tiebreak as well before rattling off three-straight points to win the tiebreak, forcing a third and final set.
“I just blocked everyone out; like, I could not listen to anyone,” said Kenner of how she stayed focused during the second set. “… I just focused in on one ball at a time and I kept going because I had literally nothing to lose. I lost to her last time (we played each other), so I just kept fighting.”
Kenner came out strong in the final set, winning the first three games before holding on for a 6-4 win, advancing Westview to the regional final.
Westview coach Carrie Clark had nothing but praise for Kenner after the match.
“I am so proud of her,” Clark said. “She is an overcomer. She actually had back surgery in the offseason and had a rod put in her back — nobody knows that. We didn’t know how good she would be or if she’d be even physically able to play this year, and she’s dominating. And so, that was such a huge win for her. Huge win for our team, but also just a huge mental win for her. Very, very proud.”
Concord coach Todd Denton credited Kenner for being able to control the pace of the contest, which helped her win in the end.
“I’ve known Bailey for quite a few years, and she’s just not a quitter,” Denton said. “She’d just play all day if you let her, and that’s what she did. She got every ball back and waited for Landry to make mistakes. Landry got a little tentative, and it hurt her a little bit. She started playing Bailey’s tennis instead of Landry’s tennis, and that’s not how we play. We were getting it going again in the third set, but Bailey just wouldn’t miss.”
The other four matches between Westview and Concord were decided in straight sets. The Warriors won at both singles positions, with Paige Riegsecker victorious at No. 1 singles and Maddie Stults at No. 2 singles.
Concord won both doubles spots, with the No. 1 team of Kate Steele and Gracie Westlake and No. 2 tandem of Maggie Burkert and Addie May winning in those spots.
The Minutemen’s season comes to an end with a 7-8 record. They pulled off two upsets over Northridge and Elkhart in the sectional last week just to be in the position they were in Tuesday.
“I told the girls, ‘If I asked 100 people (Tuesday) who expected Concord to be at the regionals, the only three people that would’ve raised their hands would’ve been the coaches,’” Denton said. “We believed in them, and I don’t think anyone else did. … We were under the radar, and that’s kind of the way we like to do it all year long. We just went out and played, gutted it out and gave everything we could.”
Westview must now prepare for a Fairfield team that was the outright NECC champions, with their only loss being against a state-ranked Fort Wayne Homestead team as well.
“I think this team is peaking at the right time,” said Clark of her squad. “We’re peaking at most positions, and so they were really, really ready to play (Tuesday).”
FAIRFIELD 4, ANGOLA 1
With this being the fourth time in less than three weeks that Fairfield and Angola had played each other, there was plenty of familiarity between the two teams.
Just like the previous encounters, though, the Falcons were able to get the best of the Hornets. Angola’s lone win came at the No. 1 doubles spot, courtesy of a victory from Ava and Brea Harris.
Arguably the most competitive match of the night came at No. 1 singles, where Fairfield sophomore Addison Mast grinded out a 6-4, 6-4 win over Elina Locane in a matchup between two of the best individual players in the NECC.
“That 1-singles was an unbelievable match,” Fairfield coach Mike Filbrun said. “Elina is such a good player. … So many times, when Addison gets the advantage, she’s going to win the point. With Elina, though, she’ll come back with an even better shot than Addie had. That was a really good match across the board for us.”
Faith Bontrager was able to get a win at No. 2 singles rather comfortably, which was encouraging to see after her status for playing was in doubt following an injury sustained in the sectional final over NorthWood this past Friday.
“On Friday, when she went down … I thought there was a good chance she was done for the season,” Filbrun said. “But she did what she was supposed to do: she took the trainer’s instructions and did her icing and her stretching, and by (Monday’s) practice, she looked like she was, more or less, normal.”
Elyse Yoder cruised to a win at No. 3 singles, while the duo of Iris Miller and Kate McGuire also took care of business at No. 2 doubles for Fairfield.
INDIVIDUAL TOURNAMENT UPDATE
Along with the team regional semifinals happening, the IHSAA individual tournament began with sectional play. Northridge’s Lilah Dean defeated Elkhart’s Adley Keim, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 to advance in the individual portion of the tournament. Dean will automatically qualify for individual regionals next week should the winner of the No. 1 singles match between Fairfield and Westview Wednesday have their team lose the overall match.
Since Angola and Concord’s No. 1 doubles pairings are still undefeated in the postseason, they advance into the individual doubles tournament. Kate Steele and Westlake will play the NorthWood duo of Amy Adams and Emery Porter Wednesday night, with the winner of that contest facing the Harris duo from Angola then Thursday night for a chance to advance to the individual doubles regional tournament.
2022 NORTHRIDGE GIRLS TENNIS REGIONAL SEMIFINALS — Results
Fairfield 4, Angola 1
No. 1 singles: Addison Mast (F) def. Elina Locane (A), 6-4, 6-4
No. 2 singles: Faith Bontrager (F) def. Ellie Aldred (A), 6-1, 6-3
No. 3 singles: Elyse Yoder (F) def. McKenna Powers (A), 6-1, 6-0
No. 1 doubles: Ava Harris/Brea Harris (A) def. Abigail Gall/Ella Branneman (F), 6-1, 6-0
No. 2 doubles: Iris Miller/Kate McGuire (F) def. Kaylee Wise/Allison Christman (A), 6-2, 6-2
Westview 3, Concord 2
No. 1 singles: Paige Riegsecker (W) def. Claire Steele (C), 6-0, 6-4
No. 2 singles: Maddie Stults (W) def. Esther Williams (C), 6-1, 6-1
No. 3 singles: Bailey Kenner (W) def. Landry Schrock (C), 2-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4
No. 1 doubles: Kate Steele/Gracie Westlake (C) def. Ava Brown/Ella Clark (W), 7-6 (7-1), 6-2
No. 2 doubles: Maggie Burkert/Addie May (C) def. Ella Yoder/Kamryn Miller (W), 6-2, 6-2
Individual singles sectional: Lilah Dean (Northridge) def. Adley Keim (Elkhart), 7-6 (7-2), 6-4