All-RTC4 boys tennis: Valley’s William Mellott is Player of the Year

Val T.
24 hours ago
2 min read

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

**RTC4 Boys Tennis Player of the Year William Mellott**

Brothers William and Noah Mellott usually play on side by side courts as the Nos. 1 and 2 singles players for the Tippecanoe Valley boys tennis team.

Their father Thadd is Valley’s coach.

Owen was the emerging player working his way up in the Valley lineup. But the standout player we are recognizing today is William, our RTC4 Player of the Year.

William’s power and speed both improved from last year. That made him both a better offensive and defensive player. He could overpower opponents with his serve and groundstrokes, and he could run down shots on the lines and in the corners from his opponents.

We thank all area coaches for sharing their scores as well as their insights on their teams. Having said that, this list is ours and ours alone, and we take full responsibility. We placed extra emphasis on the Rochester-Valley match in August since these were our only two area teams.

Noah Mellott Wade Bowers

All-RTC4 singles

William Mellott (Tippecanoe Valley) (Player of the Year) – Mellott clinched this honor after he came back from a set down to beat Wawasee’s Felix Reir in the sectional to advance to the individual singles tournament.
Noah Mellott (Tippecanoe Valley) – Mellott also grew his baseline game this year to earn the No. 2 spot on this list.
Wade Bowers (Rochester) – Bowers faced a consistently tough slate of opponents in the Three Rivers Conference at No. 1 singles but performed admirably. Bowers relied more on his speed to retrieve balls and keep them in play.

Harrison Ashton Liam Hayden

Dunwoody Musselman Newcomer Stookey

All-RTC4 doubles

Harrison Dunwoody-Ashton Musselman (Rochester) – Dunwoody and Musselman did not become a team until right before the season started, but they played as if they had been teamed up for years. Both had powerful serves, and both proved to be nimble volleyers.
Liam Newcomer-Hayden Stookey (Tippecanoe Valley) – Newcomer and Stookey were not much behind Dunwoody and Musselman, even though they were relatively inexperienced as varsity players coming into the year. They were very determined and possessed quick reflexes at the net.

Honorable mention singles