Aug. 29—LAPEL — The Madison County boys tennis travelling trophy has not moved around much over the last decade, but Saturday evening’s post-championship presentation to Lapel coach Justin Coomer was different in a couple ways.
Lapel’s 4-1 win over Pendleton Heights was his first county title to be completed under the lights and was also the first time his players had a presentation of their own to make.
As Coomer received the Madison County championship trophy for the eighth straight year, his players also handed him an oversized tennis ball emblazoned with the number commemorating the coach’s 200th career boys tennis coaching win, earned in a prime time battle.
Coomer reflected on the accomplishment, preferring to hand the credit to the players who helped him reach this milestone in his 12th season at the helm.
“It’s nice to win,” he said. “A lot of good players and a lot of good kids, the names change but it keeps going on, which is pretty cool.”
Senior doubles partners Corbin Renihan and Landon Bair put the first point on the board with a convincing 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 1 doubles over Blake Stoker and Logan Jones. Helping their coach reach win No. 200 at home and on the occasion of the county title match made the evening a special one.
“I knew with all the year left, at some point we would get him to 200,” Bair said. “But, I wanted it to be more important than just 200. The Madison County championship and eight straight, that was on our minds tonight. We came out here as a team, and we wanted to do it for him and on this stage.”
“We didn’t bring that ball for nothing,” Renihan added.
Moments later at an adjacent court, Isaac Bair made it a 2-0 Lapel lead as he fought off Ryland Mills for a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 2 singles, much to the delight of the larger than usual throng of Lapel fans who were in attendance for the 7:30 p.m. start time.
“It was a fun night. I love being under the lights,” Coomer said. “The bugs are bad, but it’s not as hot. We had a lot more fans tonight, it’s hard for fans to get here on a Wednesday at 5 o’clock. That was neat to have more people out here to cheer us on.”
Sophomore Jacob Erwin at No. 1 singles — the fourth such player for Coomer during this run of titles — clinched the championship as he closed out Sam Bowers in a hard-fought 6-1, 6-3 match. Erwin overcame early deficits of 1-0 in the first set and 2-0 in the second and is someone who fits right in with the likes of Garrett Fensler, Joseph Conrad and Jesse McCurdy as previous top Bulldogs to lead Lapel to the championship.
“He’s only a sophomore, but he’s played a lot of tennis,” Coomer said. “Just to have the patience and the moment wasn’t too big for him.”
Pendleton Heights freshman Austin Perny salvaged a point for the Arabians with a 6-1, 7-5 win at No. 3 singles over Dakota Kimmerling.
“He’s got a lot of improvement he can do,” PH coach Royce Hammel said. “He was able to pull this one out for us.”
The one match to go beyond the second set was the No. 2 Doubles match where Lapel’s Grant Humerickhouse and Mason Poynter bounced back after dropping the first set and finished off the evening in a third-set tiebreaker for a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) win over Mark Nielsen and Cole Bubenzer.
“Even to win that, even though it didn’t mean much match-wise, it was a good win,” Coomer said. “(The PH) doubles are really good.”
PH will resume its Hoosier Heritage Conference schedule with a Tuesday trip to Shelbyville while Lapel will travel to Eastern Hancock on Wednesday.
Contact Rob Hunt at rob.hunt@heraldbulletin.com or 765-640-4886.