Sep. 29—Logansport advanced to the sectional championship match with a 5-0 win over Lewis Cass Thursday at the LHS tennis courts.
The Berries’ senior-heavy lineup came through. They have seniors at all three singles spots and one at No. 1 doubles.
Dylan Pearson defeated Bryon Hurst 7-6 (5), 6-2 at No. 1 singles, Cooper Smith defeated Nolan Hines 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 singles and Conner Penz defeated Liam Ellington 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 singles.
Aryan Patel and Max Kitchell defeated Bryce Rudd and Kyle Henry 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1 doubles and Aiden Swank and Blake Pearson defeated Riley Johnson and Drew Sailors 6-3, 6-2 at No. 2 doubles.
Logansport coach Adam Thompson noted his team swept Cass in the season opener as well but both were competitive matches.
“This is a good team and we beat them 5-0 the first time. They played really well but luckily we were pretty focused and pretty on top of it and doing the things we’ve been practicing,” Thompson said. “They took care of business, it was nice.”
The Berries improved to 12-4 on the season. Their only losses in NCC play were to Harrison and Kokomo.
“Good season, good record,” Thompson said. “The teams we’ve lost to have been good teams. We’re hoping to extend this season a little bit.”
Cass coach Matt Hurst said he knew his team had a tough task ahead of them.
“We knew going in we were the underdogs. I tell the guys right from the get go our goal is to improve throughout the whole season and there’s no doubt the guys did,” he said. “It was a much tighter match than when we played them the first match this season. The guys came out and they play with heart and they fight, and that’s all you can ask for as a coach.”
The Kings finish 6-7. They had just two seniors this year, Bryon Hurst and Kyle Henry.
“For losing five out of seven varsity players last year to come out pretty much 50/50, the guys did a good job,” coach Hurst said. “We had a lot of kids learning new positions. Even our No. 1 singles was a doubles player for three years, he had to pull over. Everybody was doing something new but everybody contributed to the team. It’s a good group of guys.”
The Kings made their debut in the Three Rivers Conference this season.
“It was different. We don’t have a tournament which was nice,” coach Hurst said. “But we’re playing a bunch of teams that we haven’t seen before. So it was new for the boys and it’ll be a whole new change for the girls because there’s even more girls teams than the boys.”
Twin Lakes defeated Delphi 5-0 in the other semifinal.
Logan faces a rematch with future Hoosier Conference opponent Twin Lakes (10-8) for the sectional title. Logan defeated Twin Lakes 3-2 earlier this season. Twin Lakes is the defending sectional champ.
Logan won the points at Nos. 2 and 3 singles and No. 1 doubles in the regular-season match. Twin Lakes’ No. 2 singles player did not play in that match.
“They have one player that they didn’t have last time and in a tennis lineup some people don’t understand that one player makes a huge difference one way or another,” Thompson said. “So they’re going to be a lot tougher than the last time we played them.
“We’re going to need to be on top of our game and be focused and play our best to be able to defeat them this time.”
The match gets underway at 4:45 p.m. today at the LHS courts.
