First serve goes to Bremen
BREMEN - Familiar high school boys tennis foes met up at the Desantis Courts in Sunnyside Park Wednesday.
Led by a swift singles sweep, it was the upperclassmen-heavy Bremen lineup coming away with the 4-1 Senior Night victory over Plymouth.
“Anytime Bremen and Plymouth play, it’s going to be a good match,” said Bremen head coach Kevin Hickman. “Both teams know it will be close no matter who has the better record or who they’ve played before. Both teams look forward to it.”
With five of the Lions’ seven spots filled with seniors (compared to just one for Plymouth) the added experience showed, especially at the singles positions.
Bremen lost just six games total while taking the Nos. 1-3 singles venues. Senior Carson Miller was the first one off the court at No. 1 and classmate Dawson Hickman third off at No. 2. Junior Mariano Deleon, who could make a case for being slotted higher than No. 3 in Bremen’s or most any other team’s lineup, came off second at that position and the Lions had the three team points needed to win the match fairly quickly.
“We’ve been good this year, but not as good as I thought we’d be honestly, but this match was one of our better matches,” said Hickman. “Our top five beat each other up all the time (in practice). Playing better competition brings out better play for everybody. We were really solid in singles.”
And not too shabby at doubles either.
The No. 1 pair of seniors Shay Kyser and Mason Porter won seven out of
eight games to turn around an early 2-3 first-set deficit, winning in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1.
“I thought they started off tight with it being Senior Night and maybe they were a little nervous with more people here and it being their last home match,” added Hickman. “But they played much better after that.”
Plymouth’s lone team point came at No. 2 doubles where Liam Fort and Cam Shively, who were leading 3-2, won three straight games to end the first set, then held that same one-game lead in the second before Bremen’s Jesse Wisler, the fifth upperclassman in the lineup, and partner Camden Hickman took two straight games to pull within 4-5,
before Fort and Shively finished it from there.
The next big day on the Lions’ schedule is the Concord Invitational this Saturday where they will likely meet Northern Indiana Conference bully Penn at some point. Plymouth hosts Concord today for a Northern Lakes Conference match. There is a good chance the Pilgrims and Lions will meet again during sectionals at the end of the month.
• BREMEN 4, PLYMOUTH 1 At Bremen
SINGLES: 1. Carson Miller (B) def. Carter Snyder 6-0, 6-1; 2. Dawson Hickman (B) def. Easton Strain 6-1, 6-3; 3. Mariano Deleon (B) def. Martin Baca 6-1, 6-0; DOUBLES: 1. Shay Kyser-mason Porter (B) def. Bennett Christymatt Manzuk 6-4, 6-1; 2. Liam Fort-cam Shively (P) def. Jesse Wisler-camden Hickman 6-2, 6-4 JV: Plymouth 6, Bremen 3