Monday, October 5th, 2009

Celina ties for overall WBL title

By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

The Manci sisters, Samantha hitting the ball and Audra in the foreground, completed an undefeated WBL season in winning the WBL second doubles title at UNOH on Saturday.

Celina captured three championships during the finals of Saturday's Western Buckeye League girls tennis tournament on the campus of the University of Northwestern Ohio.
Even with that, and going 9-0 in WBL regular-season matches, the NetDogs were forced to share the overall team title with Shawnee.
The Indians scored 30 points in the tournament to capture the 10 points toward the overall team title. That, with the nine points from the regular season, gave Shawnee 19 total points. Celina scored had 24 points in the tournament to pick up nine points from the tourney and 10 in the regular season to get its 19 points.
Nevertheless, it's the third WBL title for Celina in the decade and fifth in school history.
"We went there and did everything we needed to do," said Celina coach Jan Morrison via telephone. "We beat Shawnee head to head in three positions today. We beat them in three positions in the dual match earlier in the season. A paradoxical anomaly of how they do the scoring. It feels like we won, but the scorebook says we tied.
"I feel we have the bragging rights because of how we did it. The girls won in straight sets today everywhere. They went there with a purpose and came away with the championships."
In first doubles, Katie Pyle and Shelby Decker had a wild finish to capture the championship. The Celina tandem beat Shawnee's Melinda Maté and Sawmya Bulusu 6-3 and 6-4 to advance and face Wapakoneta's Kara Wellons and Olivia Nelson. Decker and Pyle won the opening set 7-5, but trailed 0-5 in the second set before posting a remarkable comeback to win 7-5 to take the title. For Pyle, it was a second straight WBL title after winning second doubles last year with Shareé Werling. Decker was the WBL runner-up in third singles last season.
"Once they got their momentum going, there was no stopping them," said Morrison. "It was a great final point. Shelby made a great shot to win it. Katie was serving and it was back-and-forth. Shelby put it away at the net."
The twin sister combination of Audra and Samantha Manci completed an undefeated WBL season in capturing the second doubles title. The Manci's beat Ottawa-Glandorf's Mary Wischmeyer and Kristen Zender 6-0 and 6-0 to advance and face Shawnee's Grace Baird and Taylor Worman. In the final, the Manci's got matching 6-3 set wins to bring home the title.
"They are just so steady," said Morrison. "Often times in practice we count how many times can you hit back and forth without missing. They usually will win that. They've been in the 100s before. That's how their points (in a game) are. They'll go back and forth."
Brianna Beougher brought home the third crown for the NetDogs in third singles. After beating Wapak's Ashley Beach 6-2 and 6-3 in the semis, Beougher posted a straight sets 6-1 and 6-1 win over Shawnee's Amanda Lawson to take the title.
St. Marys was led by Megan Dominik, who advanced to the first singles title match by beating Jessie Adkins of Elida 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to face defending champion Vidhi Madan of Shawnee. Madan made quick work of Dominik, winning 6-0 and 6-0.
The Roughrider team of Lydia Krugh and Haylee Kill, finished third in first doubles, losing to Wellons and Nelson 4-6 and 3-6 before beating Bulusu and Maté 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in the consolation.
In second singles, Mariah Krugh of St. Marys finished fourth in the tournament, losing to Makenzie Klock of Wapakoneta 2-6 and 1-6 before falling to Muriel Smith of Bath 1-6 and 2-6 in the consolation. Shawnee's Lauren Rovner captured the bracket title with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Klock.
Both Celina and St. Marys will be back at UNOH this week for the Division II sectional tournament.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

Katie Pyle, left, and Shelby Decker captured the WBL first doubles singles title on Saturday, helping the NetDogs win a share of the overall WBL tennis championship along with Shawnee.

Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

Brianna Beougher captured the WBL third singles title after posting a straight sets win over Shawnee's Amanda Lawson in the finals.

Additional online story on this date
Hundred volunteer their time to help local needy
When Holly Miller lost her job last month and her husband's hours were cut at work, she gave up her dream of replacing the family's shower with a bathtub. [More]
Subscriber and paid stories on this date
Preschool classes at Immaculate Conception School in Celina have been canceled for the week to combat the spread of an unknown virus that some officials believe is the common stomach flu.
The reconstruction of Buckeye Street has been estimated by the Ohio Department of Transportation at $2.57 million - $1 million more than the city originally anticipated.
Southshore Acres Inc. has filed a motion asking the court to dismiss an appeal filed by the Lake Improvement Association, which is trying to stop construction of a new housing subdivision along Grand Lake.
The 2010 Celina Combined Services Appeal's goal is set at $125,000. This is down from last year's goal of $140,000, due to current economic conditions.
ROSSBURG - Michigan driver Chad Blonde captured what he thought was his first career win at Eldora Speedway when he was the first to the checkers in Saturday night's National Racing Alliance (NRA) Sprint Invader feature.
Delphos St. John's ran the table in the Midwest Athletic Conference girls golf division, pairing an undefeated dual match season with capturing the conference tournament on Saturday at The Fox's Den in Celina.
Compiled by Ryan Hines
and Gary R. Rasberry
Marion Local won a battle of state Division IV powers in capturing the Pepsi Crestview Lady Knights Volleyball Invitational on Saturday in Convoy. The tournament featured a number of state-ranked teams among the field.