While Crawfordsville’s No. 1 singles player Rowan Gambrel was in a tough battle Thursday during the boys’ tennis sectional final with Lebanon’s Owen Bigler, a large cheer erupted from Athenian fans watching the No. 1 doubles match.
The victory by the doubles team of Jude Hutchison and Henry Bannon sealed the sectional championship for Crawfordsville for a third consecutive year. The Athenians defeated Lebanon 4-1.
The win by Hutchison and Bannon reversed an earlier loss this season to Lebanon’s team of Jack Farrell and Thomas Devlin.
Hutchison had a feeling he and Bannon could win. He believed the adjustments Crawfordsville coach Craig Brainard had given would make a difference. And, it did.
“We felt good about our chances of winning after losing to Lebanon earlier in the season,” Hutchison said. “We made some changes on how to play them and it worked. When we won the last set, it really felt awesome and to beat Lebanon felt good too.”
Crawfordsville’s No. 2 singles Wyatt Motz had already defeated Wesley Byrd 6-1, 6-2 and Athenian Jude Coursey quickly dispensed of Lebanon’s Thomas Devlin 6-2, 6-0 at the No. 3 singles slot.
After securing the championship title all eyes turned to the No. 1 singles match. Gambrel was trying to come back for the second time after being down 4-2 in the first two sets. Gambrel rallied for the 6-4 victory in the first set and he was in a similar battle against his Tiger opponent in the second set.
Just like in the first set, Gambrel fought back by winning four straight games to put the finishing touches to the Athenian championship. The junior’s final scores were 6-4, 6-4.
Gambrel said patience was the key to his victory.
“Honestly, my mindset made him make the mistake,” Gambrel said. “I wanted to keep him moving.”
Gambrel, who had beaten Bigler 6-2, 6-4 earlier in the season, complimented his opponent for jumping out to the lead in both sets.
“(Bigler) was so much better than last time we played and he proved he was a good opponent,” Gambrel said.
Brainard was pleased with his team’s effort. He thought they took care of business but it was not easy.
“Lebanon is a good team and we knew they would come here and play well,” Brainard said. “We had some adverse situations tonight and I am really proud our team could come back. We demonstrated a lot of grit tonight.”
Crawfordsville will play Parke Heritage on Tuesday in the first round of the Lebanon Regional. Parke Heritage defeated Fountain Central 4-1 in the Fountain Central sectional championship on Thursday.
