Long afternoon favors the Panthers

NAPPANEE — With the team result long decided, with darkness emerging, with temperatures in the low 40s, and with many of their teammates huddled under blankets, NorthWood’s Britton Jesse and Concord’s Ari Mosquerakept playing … and playing, and playing some more.

Resolve was the order of the evening, and the two senior No. 1 singles players showed plenty.

Jesse was swinging away after having to crank herself back up following visions that the match might already be over, while Mosquera was playing on a compromised right ankle that she had rolled midway through the second set.

In a battle royale that lasted 3 hours, 8 minutes — including a 15-minute delay while Mosquera waited to have her ankle taped — Jesse finally prevailed 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 to cap the host Panthers’ 5-0 girls high school tennis win over the Minutemen on Wednesday.

“Neither of us wanted to lose,” Jesse said in the understatement of the day.

With Jesse up 4-2 in the second set, Mosquera suffered the ankle injury. She initially hopped around gingerly, then eventually plopped down against the fence.

It took a few minutes for NorthWood trainer Paul Widner, also working another event on campus, to be located. Following consultation and treatment, Mosquera decided to go on.

“She says it’s still hurting,” Concord coach Todd Denton shared later, “but this kid will run through a wall to go get a ball. I love her attitude. She just tries her best every day, gives 110%. She’s one of those girls you wish you had 10 of her.”

Jesse was among those who checked on Mosquera during the delay.

“Obviously, her getting hurt was hard, and it was hard for me because I felt like I was just getting in the groove when it happened,” Jesse said. “I felt like I got a little cold and didn’t re-warm up. I think that’s why it took me a little bit to get back into it. I didn’t know if she was gonna play or not.”

Mosquera not only played, but played with passion. Her foot movement was visibly tentative at first, but her strokes compensated.

She immediately and authoritatively won the next two points at deuce to close to 4-3, then continued her onslaught by taking four of the next five games to force a third set.

Given that the match slated for 5 p.m. didn’t begin until 5:30, given that it was 7:58 when the second set ended, and perhaps given Mosquera’s situation, a proposal was then floated to play a super tiebreak in lieu of a full third set.

Jesse declined the option.

“I wanted to (play it out),” Jesse said. “I’m a bit of a slow starter, and I think it showed after the injury. I just think I do better with more time, and I don’t have a great history with tiebreakers, so I’d rather do a full set.”

The third set stayed on serve through three games, but Jesse broke Mosquera in the fourth, then broke her again in the eighth to close out the win.

“I was so impressed with the way (Mosquera) played to finish that second set, and so impressed with the way Brit rebounded,” NorthWood coach Tif Schwartz said. “She wasn’t comfortable with only playing (a super tiebreak), and to her credit, it’s something she recognized. Sometimes, a full set is what you need to get yourself balanced.”

The coach liked what she saw on the other courts, too.

The Panthers improved to 7-4 overall, 3-1 in the Northern Lakes Conference.

“It was a really good win,” Schwartz said. “We needed to bounce back from (Monday’s 3-2 loss at Northridge), and I saw a lot of solid play.

“I was very impressed with our doubles,” she continued. “We worked a lot on our defense (during Tuesday’s indoor practice) because Concord has some strong doubles, and it was nice to see what we worked on come through.”

Three of NorthWood’s four losses this season have come against Top 25 clubs, including 4-1 against No. 2 Fishers to go with 3-2 decisions against No. 20 Penn and No. 25 Homestead.

The Minutemen, shut out for the first time, dropped to 3-3 overall, 2-2 in the league.

“I just got done telling the kids this was a good loss for us,” Denton said. “We competed, and NorthWood’s ranked No. (26). This conference is brutal. There’s six teams just beating on each other, so we’re gonna have to keep competing.”

Concord hosts Plymouth on Friday. The Panthers, after visiting Bethany Christian on Thursday, head to the DeKalb Invitational on Saturday.

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NORTHWOOD 5, CONCORD 0

SINGLES: Britton Jesse def. Ari Mosquera 7-5, 5-7, 6-2. Tatum Evers def. Esther Williams 6-3, 6-1. Gabriela Poblador def. Anna Stone 6-1, 6-0.

DOUBLES: Emery Porter/Kaydence Dumka def. Dani Aplin/Addi May 6-4, 7-5. Maddy Birk/Maggie Steiner def. Mia McEachern/Libby Carnall 6-4, 6-1.

Records: NorthWood 7-4 (3-1 NLC), Concord 3-3 (2-2 NLC).

JV: NorthWood 9, Concord 1. Winners: NorthWood — Neleh Steiner, Macie Knepp, Emily Ulhman, Eden Wiggins, Sophie Richmond, Jenna Householter/Sage Risser, Ava Martin/Hannah Yoder, Kylin Wuthrich/Jillian Engrecht, Allie Yoder/Abby Schmucker; Concord — Kaiya Newburn/Briana Koontz. JV records: NorthWood 11-0, Concord 4-2.