Hauser’s Jentzen Bechtel returns a shot in the No. 1 doubles match against Columbus East in the boys tennis sectional at Columbus North Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024.
James Pence | The RepublicHOPE — Hauser boys tennis coach Andy Kilps was concerned that his team might have been a little too loose on the bus ride to Columbus North Wednesday afternoon.
The Jets quickly put Kilps’ fears to rest when they got off to a strong start and went on to post a 4-1 win against Columbus East in the opening round of the North Sectional.
“These young men like to joke around and laugh, and I love that for the team camaraderie,” Kilps said. “On the bus, they were just joking and laughing, and I thought, ‘Are they focused? Are they going to be ready for tonight?’ And what I saw here was, they got serious, and they played hard on that court. So it was just total change from on the bus to here on the courts, and I’m just very proud of them.”
Hauser (10-7) advances to play Edinburgh in one of Thursday’s semifinals at 4:30 p.m. Fifth-ranked North will face Greensburg in the other semifinal, also at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. The sectional final is at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
“Since I’ve been here, we haven’t played East, so it was nice to see how we could do against a bigger school, and we came out with a win and we’re very happy,” Kilps said. “Obviously, Columbus North is tough. We know that. They’re hard to beat. But it would be great to get a win against Edinburgh and see what we can do against the Bull Dogs.”
All five of Wednesday’s matches ended within a couple minutes of each other. The first to finish was at No. 1 doubles, where the Jets’ Jentzen Bechtel and Joel Bechtel beat Trevor Ernst and Micah Wettschurack 6-1, 6-1.
“We haven’t beaten East for awhile, so it was awesome to come and beat them and play well and advance in the sectional,” Jentzen Bechtel said. “We played well, not as good as we normally do, but we hit some good shots.”
“It’s a great feeling to win and to win as a team, but it’s even greater to do it with my brother at 1 doubles,” Joel Bechtel added. “We’ve had a blast this year playing together, playing with him his last year of high school.”
Hauser’s Kam Blair beat Owen Kirk 6-0, 6-3 at No. 2 singles, and Colten Hatton topped Michael Reed 6-2, 6-0 at No. 3 singles. Jayden Blair and RJ Foster defeated Jonas Newell and Carson Hartsook 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2 doubles.
The Olympians will have one player moving on. Senior Tyler Ernst advanced in the individual tournament by virtue of his 6-4, 6-1 win against Hunter Pappano at No. 1 singles.
“I’m proud of how I played,” Ernst said. “As a whole, these guys fought really hard as a team. We would have liked to all moved on, but I’m proud of the team, and I’m proud of how I played, and I’ll keep fighting until I can’t anymore.”
East finishes the season 3-18.
“Obviously, it’s a disappointing loss,” East coach Adam Ulrich said. “No one wants to be done with the season. We come out to play in the postseason, and you want to advance. But these guys are a very inexperienced team. We ask them to go out and compete every night against players that have played for years, and a lot of these guys have played for six, seven, eight weeks, and I could not be prouder of the effort that they’ve put in. I know some of them have personal goals that they achieved, and some of them have new goals that they plan on working on, and East tennis will be back a lot stronger next year than we were this year.”
