By RYAN WALKER
Norwell made them sweat to do it, but in the end, Bluffton came away with the 3-2 win in boys’ tennis.
The Wells County clash has favored the Norwell Knights (6-5) in head coach Noah Tobias’ tenure — a 5-0 in regular season matches, not including a 3-2 win over the Tigers in the sectional championship last year.
The Tigers (8-4) scratched and clawed their way and got head coach Robert Vanderkolk the 200th win of his career Monday night, but it did not come easy.
The Tigers are in a similar spot the Knights were last season. With a strong returning class of seniors, and Norwell’s large graduating class last year, Bluffton is looking to get back revenge for the sectional.
Tobias’ Knights are continuing to learn and gain experience with first-time varsity players and have been tinkering with the No. 2 doubles lineup all season. But you can thank the rivalry for the drama and Vanderkolk’s prediction of a sectional championship following the loss to Norwell in the final last year.
“I think we really wanted to prove ourselves like, ‘Hey, you’re not necessarily going to walk over us,’” Tobias said. “I think we all remember Bob’s comments from last year after we beat them in sectional, but you’re going to have to fight for this. You’re not just going to walk over us. We definitely made them sweat.”
Within the first 30 minutes of the contest, Norwell had Bluffton on the ropes. It had as many as four of the five courts in the lead.
“(The Knights) weren’t just going to show up and say ‘Oh, we graduated everybody, we don’t have Grant (Mishler) anymore. What are we supposed to do?’ They’ve been getting better and better each night. My hats off to them, they played hard,” Vanderolk said.
The Tigers were also down to Reid Abbett at No. 3 singles, a junior varsity player who has now played in three straight varsity matches for a sick Anthony Hartman.
Abbett has held his own since getting the emergency call-up, but a lack of experience got him a 6-3, 6-4 loss to Landon Diver.
When Abbett lost his match, it got Norwell the 2-1 edge, desperately seeking the final point to gain a sweet victory. The Knights’ No. 1 doubles team of Eddie Archbold and Ayden Quintanilla picked up a win 6-1, 6-4 while Bluffton got its first point from No. 2 doubles’ Dane Schlagenhauf and Kade Abbett 6-0, 6-4.
Vanderkolk also shared that he and the coaching staff had a decision to make with Abbett and Jacob Ribich. Ribich was recently bumped back down to No. 3 singles, but since Hartman was out, Vanderkolk needed to place Ribich in his normal spot or bump him back up to No. 2 singles.
He contemplated all day Monday, going in and out of his assistant coaches classrooms and asking Hunter Cunningham and Spencer Schwartz what to do, and ultimately was convinced to trust Ribich in the big moment.
At first, Norwell’s Braylon Troutt held a strong advantage over Ribich, but the Tigers’ sophomore adjusted his game plan and began to chip away at the deficit. He eventually came back and won the first set, and then began taking the lead in the second.
In the meantime, Nolan Lambert took care of No. 1 singles to tie the team’s score to 2-2 and everything relied on Ribich’s match.
Up 5-2, Ribich and Troutt went to several consecutive deuces, and Troutt took him down to win the point. But the next time, Ribich sealed the deal and gave the Tigers the win.
“I don’t have much hair left but Jacob tried to get rid of the rest of it in the first half of the first set,” Vanderkolk said, “Braylon played a heck of a match. Jacob was able to change up his strategy of what he wanted to do to finish the first set off. To come from behind and win and then he took care of business in the second set — I couldn’t be prouder of him today.”
For the Knights, Tobias was pleased overall with what he saw with still five matches and an invitational left to go in the season. Bluffton will likely be the toughest competition in the sectional for Norwell’s shot at a repeat, and Monday’s one-point loss was enough to see the match could be within grasp.
Tobias was especially thrilled with his No. 1 doubles team, who he said they’ve been waiting for them to play at their best against good competition. Archbold and Quintanilla did just that and more and left no doubt in earning one of the team’s second point.
“I thought everybody did a really good job today,” Tobias said. “A couple of points went Bluffton’s way that could have went our way, and that was really the deciding factor. I feel like it was really just that close.”
But the end result this time went to the Tigers, an oh sweet victory for Vanderkolk, and a future postseason rematch could be in the cards.
“It’s always good to beat our neighbors from to the north no matter what sport it is no matter what level it is,” Vanderkolk said. “There’s a little bit of juice to it on both sides as there should be.”
Individual results
• Nolan Lambert (B) defeated. Gavin Reynolds 6-3, 6-3 at No. 1 singles.
• Jacob Ribich (B) defeated Braylon Troutt 7-5, 6-3 at No. 2 singles.
• Landon Diver (N) defeated Reid Abbett 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3 singles.
• Eddie Archbold and Ayden Quintanilla (N) defeated Ben Maggard and Coy Lantz 6-1, 6-4 at No. 1 doubles.
• Kade Abbett and Dane Schlagenhauf (B) defeated Rylan Heyerly and Dylan Randol 6-0, 6-4 at No. 2 doubles.
Bluffton also won the junior varsity match 7-2.
Results for JV:
• Lance Moser (B) defeated Levi White 8-2.
• Jace Draper (B) defeated Christian Werling 8-1.
• Jasper Kreigh (N) defeated Chase Houser 8-0.
• Carter Lehman (B) defeated Carter DeWeese 9-7.
• Jackson Meyer and Alex Maggard (B) defeated Ethan Williamson and Ryan Ewing 8-2.
• Jared Moser and Lincoln Rodgers (B) defeated Levi White and Christian Werling 8-4.
• Jasper Kreigh and Greyson Chavis (N) defeated Jed Logan and Graham Linderwell 8-6.
• Grant Reifsteck and Braden Lemler (B) defeated Brady Watkins and Carter DeWeese 8-4.
• Kenny Mercer and Carter Williams (B) defeated Jensen Miller and Braden Hoag 8-6.
Bluffton will host Bishop Luers at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18.
Norwell will host New Haven at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17.
ryan@news-banner.com
