Jason Wegener
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Delta boys tennis coach Tim Cleland saw the competitiveness in his players during Saturday’s Homestead Semistate match against No. 2 North Central. If a couple of tight early sets could have swung in the Eagles’ favor, Cleland and his players could have been thinking upset.
But that didn’t happen, as North Central won every game when matches reached a point where the first-set score was 5-3 or 5-4, and the Panthers went on to a 4-1 victory over sixth-ranked Delta.
The Eagles’ season came to a close at 22-2.
“They just didn’t go our way,” Cleland said. “Unfortunately we didn’t get any of those 4-5 games. If we could have won a couple of those first sets, we could have had something.”
Delta did reverse one first-set loss, though, with Jason Wegener winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3 singles. That included a third-set victory when he knew the team result had already been determined.
“That was a nice third set for him,” Cleland said. “The team match was decided and it would have been easy for a letdown there. Jason is an outstanding player as far as No. 3 singles goes, and we were hoping that was a position we could win.”
Despite the loss at No. 1 singles, Alec Robillard finished his season at 20-7.
“To get 20 wins at No. 1 against our schedule, that’s a great season,” Cleland said of the junior.
The Eagles’ season came to an end against a familiar foe in two-time defending state champion North Central, which improved to 18-0. The Panthers have many times ended Delta’s season at the state or semistate levels.
“Like I told the kids, you can’t complain about that,” Cleland said. “There are teams that have to play North Central at the sectional and regional levels. When you get to the semistate, you have to be ready to play anybody.”
The Eagles will have Robillard, Jason Wegener and Tannon Dishman back for next fall, but they say goodbye to four seniors: Joe Wegener, Nick Bantz, Jacob Brewer and Matt Hapner.