By RYAN WALKER

Norwell took a rough opening loss in conference play on the tennis courts Thursday night.

A once early lead in four of the five matches turned into a 3-1 deficit with No. 2 doubles heading to a third set. Norwell’s doubles team of Rylan Heyerly and Ethan Williamson cruised through the rubber match 6-1, but the contest was already decided by then for a 3-2 final score.

Knights’ No. 3 singles player Landon Diver keeps his eye on the ball in his match, defeated the Eagles in a perfect 6-0, 6-0 sweep to get the matches first point.

“I feel like we really could have won this match,” Norwell head coach Noah Tobias said after the game. “It’s just mentally, I don’t think we were all the way there and the mental game, especially in tennis and in golf and stuff like that, it’s very important.”

At No. 3 singles, Landon Diver got the Knights on the board first. Then, Carter Wilkinson at No. 1 singles for Columbia City defeated Gavin Reynolds. At that point, Norwell was ahead on all three middle courts. But, it was way too early in the match to feel strongly about it.

Norwell’s Rylan Heyerly (left) hits an inside serve from Columbia City’s No. 2 doubles team during Thursday’s Northeast 8 Conference opener at Norwell. The Knights were edged by one point in a 3-2 loss. (Photos by Ryan Walker)

Lucas Brown of Columbia City took the first set 6-4 over Norwell’s Braylon Trout and won the second 6-2. No. 2 doubles was the exact same score, where Cone Crawford and Alex Hall topped Eddie Archbold and Ayden Quintanilla.

“We were just complacent,” Tobias said. “We were comfortable with the lead, and then all of a sudden, Columbia City wasn’t comfortable that we were leading that much, and they did something about it and just didn’t finish the job.”

In the last three games, Norwell has faced stiff competition and has fallen in all three. It started with Blackhawk Christian, then came No. 21 Carroll before Columbia City strolled in.

The stretch has been a rough for the mostly first-year varsity crew as they figure out the lulls of a long season. It’s the first time they’ve gone through adversity as a team, considering it went 4-0 before the skid.

Tobias though hopes his team can soak in the experience with a restful weekend before traveling to South Adams on Monday.

“I would rather have these experiences now early on,” Tobias said. “So that we can learn from them as we go on and on in the future, instead of at a sectional championship or something like that. So, I think this was still good for us to be able to go through something like this.”

Norwell’s match with South Adams will begin at 4:30 p.m. Its next match after would be in the NE8, hosting DeKalb at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11.

Full results

• Carter Wilkinson (CC) defeated Gavin Reynolds 6-2, 6-0 at No. 1 singles.

• Lucas Brown (CC) defeated Braylon Troutt 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2 singles.

• Landon Diver (N) defeated Brandon Hinen 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 singles.

• Cone Crawford and Alex Hall (CC) defeated Eddie Archbold and Ayden Quintanilla 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1 doubles.

• Rylan Heyerly and Ethan Williamson (N) defeated Will Reynolds and Zachariah Lane 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 at No. 2 doubles.

Norwell won the junior varsity match 4-2.

Results for JV

• Brady Watkins (N) defeated Garrison Price 8-5.

• Dylan Randol and Levi White (N) defeated Hayden Howell and Jacob Snider 8-4.

• Jasper Kreight and Greyson Chavis (N) defeated Evan Delaney and Hayden Howell 8-2.

• Jenson Miller and Braden Hoag (N) defeated Noah Brown and Levi Dellinger 8-6.

• Nathaniel Nichols (CC) defeated Christian Werling 8-5.

• Jacob Snider (CC) defeated Carter DeWeese 8-4.

ryan@news-banner.com

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR