Bulldogs defeat Roughriders in WBL tennis

ST. MARYS - Celina improved to 4-1 in Western Buckeye League boys' tennis action with a 4-1 win over rival St. Marys on Thursday afternoon at the Minster Bank Courts at Memorial High School. The Roughriders drop to 2-2 in league matches.

Although each match went two sets each, all were competitive with just three of the 10 sets having a team win fewer than four games.

"We knew they were going to be tough," Celina coach Toma Hainline said. "We know them and they know us. That always makes it fun for both teams. It was competitive. We had a lot of long matches even though they went two sets. Kudos to St. Marys. I'm proud of my team. I thought they battled."

Celina swept through the three singles matches. Bryce Langenkamp needed a 7-1 tiebreaker to take the opening set 7-6 over Marcel Lansing before taking the second set 6-3 to take first singles. Kyle Lochtefeld picked up the second singles victory with matching 6-4, 6-4 set wins over Howie Spencer, and Collin Harris came through in third singles with the 6-4, 6-2 win over C.J. Vanderhorst.

The first doubles match was one of the most intense matches of the day with both teams showing exuberance after having won points. Celina's Garrett Forlow and Sohaib Saleem won the first set 6-4, but the St. Marys tandem of Andrew Vogel and David Keller quickly jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set. The Celina duo battled through and forced a tiebreaker, winning the tiebreak 7-5 to take the 7-6 win in the second set.

"We had a good first set and (St. Marys) jumped on us in the second set," Hainline said. "We definitely battled back with a little enthusiasm and came back to win the tiebreaker pretty easily."

St. Marys avoided being swept without a win in second doubles as Mason King and Evan Tennant defeated Celina's Brandon Schmidlapp and Justin Warnement 6-4 and 6-3.

"We knew it would be a tough match. We were just hoping for a few more wins," St. Marys coach Seth Hertenstein said. "With Celina, we knew what to expect.

Both teams are back in league play tonight. Celina travels to face Ottawa-Glandorf while St. Marys hosts Kenton.