Advertisement

Evers' clutch performance keys Panther win

anthony anderson, the elkhart truth, ind.
·5 min read

NAPPANEE — Tatum Evers knew her longtime friend, Jaycie Cress, wasn’t feeling well. But the competitor in Evers didn’t allow compassion to stretch too far.

Under a bright sun and temperatures that reached 85 degrees, the surging Evers won all of the final nine games in her No. 2 singles match against Cress to complete a 5-7, 6-2, 6-0, three-hour victory that lifted the host Panthers over Northridge 3-2 at Tuesday evening’s topsy-turvy NorthWood Regional girls tennis semifinals.

Cress, struggling to beat the heat, conferred with a trainer during about a 10-minute delay that occurred with Evers ahead 3-2 in the second set.

Cress never won another game.

“I kind of took it to my advantage,” said Evers, who avenged a three-set loss to Cress during the regular season. “I was like, ‘I need to pump it up. She’s at her low, so I can use this,’ and I just kind of went from there.”

The Panthers (15-4) earned a spot opposite No. 24-ranked Penn (12-6) in Wednesday’s 5 p.m. regional final. The Kingsmen were 3-2 winners when the sides met almost six weeks ago as part of an invitational at Homestead.

However, each club showed Tuesday that regular-season results don’t always matter.

With the outcomes flipped on three of the five courts, two of those flips favoring NorthWood, the Panthers reversed their 3-2 regular-season loss at Northridge a month ago, while Penn — thanks to a stunner by freshman Sam Pischalko at 3 singles — reversed a 3-2 regular-season defeat at Warsaw in the other semifinal.

NORTHWOOD 3, NORTHRIDGE 2

“Who’d have thought?” NorthWood coach Tif Schwartz said of more spots than not yielding a turnaround, “but I knew it was gonna be a tough match. I thought all five courts were gonna battle, and we all did. I think any of the five courts could’ve gone either direction, other than I’d say my 1 doubles was clicking pretty well.”

Schwartz, in her 21st year heading up her alma mater, earned her 200th career win on the ladies’ side.

“Just very proud of the girls,” Schwartz said.

At 3 singles, the Panthers’ Gabriela Poblador nipped fellow junior Sage Ganberg 7-6 (7-1), 7-5 to turn that regular-season meeting around, but at 2 doubles, the Raiders’ Ava Schrock and Catherine Miller rang up a 6-4, 6-2 win after falling to counterparts Maddy Birk and Maggie Steiner in both the regular season and Northern Lakes Conference Tourney.

At 1 singles, Northridge’s Saige Wheatley notched a gritty 6-4, 6-7 (1-7), 6-2 win over fellow senior Britton Jesse, squaring the team count at 2-2 and leaving the team decision in the hands of Evers, a junior, and Cress, a senior.

“That was kind of hard,” Evers said of seeing her friend labor. “Been friends since we were little. … Always been really close.”

“She was not feeling great today,” Raider coach Judy Pollock confirmed of Cress, “but Tatum earned the win. They had a really tight match last time, so we knew it could go either way again.”

Northridge closed Pollock’s first season in charge at 12-5.

“I felt like we played pretty well, (but NorthWood) played really well,” Pollock said. “NorthWood played better tonight at their home courts and we played a little better at our home courts. Their 3 singles was a key win for them, and I was super proud of our doubles, because NorthWood always has really strong doubles.”

The Panthers’ No. 1 pair of Emery Porter and Kaydence Dumka won 6-2, 6-3.

PENN 3, WARSAW 2

With the team tally 2-2, Pischalko sent Emma Van Puffelen to her first loss all spring, 7-5, 6-4 just 18 days after the Tiger junior had rolled to a 6-1, 6-3 regular-season win.

Van Puffelen carried a 22-0 record into the rematch.

“So proud of Sam,” Penn coach Eric Bowers said. “She came out fighting, proved she could hang with her, pulled off the first set, then closed it when everybody was watching. As a freshman, that’s hard to do, knowing, ‘Hey, our season could be over.’”

Even though three of the other four courts went three sets, Pischalko-Van Puffelen still wound up the longest match, stuffed with extended rallies.

The Kingsmen got three-set wins from Anna Yoon at 2 singles and the pair of Scarlett Biever and Jaanavi Kaushik at 2 doubles.

In a slugfest at 1 singles, Warsaw’s Addie Lind improved to 23-0 with a 6-3, 7-5 win over fellow junior Aileen Hu, while at 1 doubles, the Tigers’ Claire Reichenbach and Clara Porter held on 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

INDIVIDUAL SECTIONAL

In individual doubles, Concord’s Dani Aplin and Addi May downed South Bend Adams’ Meredith Anella and Sanaa Rouser 7-5, 6-3, earning a spot opposite Reichenbach and Clara Porter on Wednesday.

Dumka and Emery Porter would face the survivors Thursday if they would happen to prevail in regional team action Wednesday while NorthWood falls as a team.

In singles, Wheatley and Lind were penciled to square off Wednesday, with Fairfield standout Addi Mast awaiting the winner on Thursday.

------------

NORTHWOOD REGIONAL

NORTHWOOD 3, NORTHRIDGE 2

SINGLES: Saige Wheatley (Nr) def. Britton Jesse 6-4, 6-7 (1-7), 6-2. Tatum Evers (NW) def. Jaycie Cress 5-7, 6-2, 6-0. Gabriela Poblador (NW) def. Sage Granberg 7-6 (7-1), 7-5.

DOUBLES: Emery Porter/Kaydence Dumka (NW) def. Alyssen Wessner/Elaina Duthie 6-2, 6-3. Ava Schrock/Catherine Miller (Nr) def. Maddy Birk/Maggie Steiner 6-4, 6-2.

Records: NorthWood 15-4, Northridge 12-5.

PENN 3, WARSAW 2

SINGLES: Addie Lind (W) def. Aileen Hu 6-3, 7-5, Anna Yoon (P) def. Abby Nicholas 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Samantha Pischalko (P) def. Emma VanPuffelen 7-5, 6-4.

DOUBLES: Claire Reichenbach/Clara Porter (W) def. Maren Woelfer/Clarissa Schmitt 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Scarlett Biever/Jaanavi Kaushik (P) def. Whitney Dawson/Lucy Ray 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Records: Penn 12-6, Warsaw 12-4.