Bremen beats PHS
BREMEN — They may meet again with more on the line, but on Wednesday the Plymouth and Bremen high school girls tennis teams gave area fans an entertaining early season match between the sectional rivals at Desantis Courts.
Led by a doubles sweep, the Lady Lions stormed back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Lady Pilgrims, 3-2, in cold and windy conditions that felt more like football season weather. The victory was the first for Bremen over Plymouth since 2014.
“I knew it would be tight,” said Bremen head coach Brita Miller. “Plymouth has a great program and always does a great job so you know you are going to have a great match.”
It started almost perfect for the Lady Pilgrims as Nos. 1 and 2 singles players Miranda German and Aubrey Vervynckt lost only three games combined to stake the visitors to an early lead. Meanwhile, the other three courts were tight matches through set one, but Bremen was able to pull out each to give the home team hope.
At No. 1 doubles, Bremen’s duo of senior Courtney Lawmaster and junior Grace Meyer won five straight games after an early 2-1 second-set deficit to win the Lady Lions’ first team point.
“Those two girls played together two years ago and they just have good chemistry and good communication,” added Miller. “Obviously, that is huge when they go up against two sophomores. We’ve been working hard on certain shots and they executed them.”
At two doubles, Emilee Taylor and Sylvia Meyer flipped a 4-3 deficit into a 6-4 win in set one, then with the second set tied at 5-all, the Bremen pair won two straight to tie the team score at 2-2.
“It works well with Emilee being the senior working with the freshman (Meyer). This is Emilee’s first year playing varsity, but she is showing well. They’ve been listening to what we’ve been talking about in practice and I’m thrilled to see that as the coach.”
With the team score tied, the match came down to No. 3 singles. Plymouth’s Bella Kain, who had a threeand-a-half hour match in her last outing, led 3-2 in the first set before Katie Barnes won two straight then carried that lead to win 7-5 before taking six of seven games in the second set.
“I’m proud of Katie and she definitely executed,” concluded Miller. “She was aggressive at times, but she is patient when she needs to be. Again, another senior, and in that position her experience showed.
“We have a ton of depth on our team. All during Covid, that was their thing, that was their release - to play tennis. I’m grateful for that.”
“We won the two matches that were kind of lopsided score-wise, then we didn’t win a competitive set across the board on the other ones,” said Plymouth head coach Brad Haeck. “We’ve got to find a way to execute better in deuce games, 30-all games, things like that. That makes a big difference. At No. 1 doubles for instance, we lose the first set 6-3. With one break and a handful of points, we’re up 6-3. We are an inexperienced group right now, but we’re not going to make excuses. We just need to grow faster than some of the teams we’ve had in the past.”
Both teams are back in action today as Plymouth travels to Chesterton while Bremen hosts New Prairie for a Northern Indiana Conference match.
• BREMEN 3, PLYMOUTH 2
At Bremen
SINGLES: 1. Miranda German (P) def. Kelsey Lawmaster (B) 6-1, 6-1; 2. Aubrey Vervynckt (P) def. Chloe Miller (B) 6-1, 6-0; 3. Katie Barnes (B) def. Bella Kain (P) 7-5, 6-1;
DOUBLES: 1. Courtney Lawmaster/grace Meyer (B) def. Ellie Jones/taylor Delp (P) 6-3, 6-2; 2. Emilee Taylor/sylvia Meyer (B) def. Cassidy Riddle/annie Plothow (P) 6-4, 7-5 Records: Bremen 2-0, Plymouth 1-2