By RYAN WALKER
It’s time to get the brooms out and let the rivalry banter begin.
Both Bluffton and Norwell got their sweeps in the boys’ tennis sectional on Wednesday and will clash together for the championship at 4:30 p.m. tonight.
The defending champion Knights were the first off the courts in a 5-0 victory over Northeast 8 competitor Bellmont with ease.
The win comes with a solid weekend at the Delta Invitational, going 1-1 with a win to Muncie Burris and a loss to state-ranked Delta before rain canceled the fun.
Now, Norwell will roll up down the road for a chance at a repeat.
“It was really good to have this match and to be able to have a win going into tomorrow,” Norwell head coach Noah Tobias said. “I think these couple of wins have boosted our confidence even more. We’ve had really a tough couple of weeks just because we’ve played such good competition. To go into the sectional championship with a couple of wins here recently, I think it’s going to really help us as a whole.”
The defending runner-up Tigers took care of South Adams in a more unconventional way.
Bluffton knew South Adams was coming with an edge that nearly beat the Tigers earlier in the year 3-2 and got them last season for a loss. This postseason matchup wasn’t any different except for the score, but there’s more to the story.
Bluffton was ahead 2-0, ahead at No. 3 singles with Jacob Ribich, and a neck-and-neck at No. 2 singles and No. 3 singles with Anthony Hartman and Nolan Lambert.
Ribich’s match was wrapped up, and his opponent chucked his racket at the net in frustration. Blake Childs, the tournament director from Huntington North, caught the display and awarded Bluffton a rightful code of conduct penalty in their favor.
This was the second offense, as the same player already whacked his racket against the ground, but the match with Ribich was already over. That meant that the next highest match on the courts would get punished.
The first offense is a point penalty, but the second is a game. So Lambert’s match with Kade Sprunger would be the punished game.
Lambert won the first set, but trailed 4-3 in the second. Sprunger was serving when he was told his match was getting a game punishment and his serving chance was over. The match was then tied, and Lambert won the final two games to ultimately win 6-4 for the sweep.
The match’s implications were high, as No. 1 singles and doubles players that continue the postseason undefeated can advance as individuals when the season is over. So Sprunger is eliminated and Lambert stays alive.
“Selfishly, they took care of their ole ball coach tonight because they know how much I don’t like losing to South Adams,” Vanderkolk said. “To come out and win pretty decisively early on and to have those extra two points … the guys are excited and they also know we’ve got one more match to win.”
With both county schools advancing, it will be a repeat of the sectional championship from last season.
Norwell captured it 3-2, and Vanderkolk famously called his shot to win it the next season.
The Tigers edged the Knights 3-2 earlier in the year, but this time the stakes are much higher. Anything can happen in the postseason.
It would be the Knights’ shot at two in a row, while the Tigers want the second in Vanderkolk’s tenure and first since 2015.
Norwell hasn’t changed its lineup since that match, but Bluffton will be getting back Anthony Hartman at No. 2 singles, who was out the previous meeting.
That forced Ribich up to No. 2 singles, in which he won, but junior varsity player, Reid Abbett got the call to play against Norwell’s Landon Diver and fell 6-3, 6-4.
Thursday will bring out the best of both teams. The county rivalry continues between the two coaches, who are alumni of the teams they now coaching. The trophy, the bragging rights — a story of redemption or of repeated success.
“I think we can do it tomorrow,” Tobias said. “Whenever we faced Bluffton earlier this year, it was 3-2 and they were close matches. Those games were so close and almost went to deuce every game. We were right there, and I think we play better than our county rivals as we feel like there’s more on the line, but now that we’ve been working towards this all season and we’re finally here, I’m excited to see our guys go out and play.”
“They’re starving for this,” Vanderkolk said. “Practice, matches, walking the halls in the school. They stop by the classroom just to chit-chat for a minute. This is an easy group to coach because I don’t have to push and motivate them … I know I jokingly say it, but there’s never a doubt when these guys hit the courts.”
Individual results:
Norwell vs. Bellmont
• Gavin Reynolds defeated Hayden Huss 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 singles.
• Braylonn Troutt defeated Kasey Teeter 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 singles.
• Landon Diver defeated Larry Knous 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3 singles.
• Eddie Archbold and Aedyn Quintanilla defeated Kaden Ramsey and James Miller 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 doubles.
• Rylan Heyerly and Dylan Randol defeated Raiden Knittle and Ben Mendoza 6-2, 6-4 at No. 2 doubles.
Bluffton vs. South Adams
• Nolan Lambert defeated Kade Sprunger 6-2, 6-4 at No. 1 singles.
• Anthony Hartman defeated Cole Hyman 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 at No. 2 singles.
• Jacob Ribich defeated Kade Sturwold 6-1, 6-3 at No. 3 singles.
• Ben Maggard and Coy Lantz defeated Gabe Neuenschwander and Ian Neuenschwander 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1 doubles.
• Kade Abbett and Dane Schlagenhauf defeated Isaiah Conrad and Ben Dubach 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 doubles.
