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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
BOURBON — Carter Merideth and Jack Reffett are No. 2 doubles partners on the Rochester boys tennis team.
They are both sophomores, but they have different tennis backgrounds. Meredith has been playing since he was a seventh-grader. Reffett has been playing for two months.
This was just their third match together.
But they teamed together to escape a second-set pickle and beat Triton’s Jaydon Heckaman and Blayze Hensley 7-5, 7-5 to highlight Rochester’s 4-1 win over the host Trojans Monday.
Rochester won both doubles matches. Harrison Dunwoody and Brady Morgan outlasted Zak Greer and Max Ritchison 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 at No. 1 doubles.
Zebra singles winners included Tanner Reinartz, whose serve-and-volley style earned him a 6-3, 6-1 win over Caden Larke at No. 1; and Robert Bozzo, who beat Ethan Shively 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2.
Colton Large rallied from a set down to beat Rochester’s Ashton Musselman 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 3 singles for Triton’s lone point.
Triton had triple set point with Merideth serving at 4-5, love-40 in the second set with a chance to even the match. But Merideth and Reffett worked their way back to deuce, fought off a fourth set point and eventually held serve to get to 5-all.
They then broke serve and Reffett held serve to close out the match.
“My goal was to just to try and get the serve in and try and win that next point,” Merideth said.
Also, Merideth is a lefty, and Reffett is a righty.
“It makes it a lot easier when we’re serving,” Reffett said. “We can both serve away from the sun, and whenever we’re returning serve, it makes it a lot easier because we’re both hitting our forehands.”
Merideth and Reffett say they watch Reinartz and Bozzo for tips. Both Reinartz and Bozzo started out their varsity careers as doubles players before moving to singles.
“We definitely learn from them,” Merideth said. “I think we can make it out of sectionals possibly, but that’s hopeful. But I don’t know. I think that’s the farthest we can get.”
Reffett said he has loved playing tennis so far. He said Reinartz convinced him to try tennis.
“He said since you’re not playing a sport, you should come out and play tennis,” Reffett said.
Do you like it?
“Of course,” Reffett said. “I’m out here a lot just to have fun, but the big part of why I’m playing is to get my footwork better.”
Dunwoody and Morgan are Rochester’s new No. 1 doubles team. Brayden Zink graduated from last year’s No. 1 doubles team. Bozzo was his partner.
“I think they got a little lax knowing they won the first set fairly easily,” Rochester coach Mason Heyde said. “They just cut back a little bit, I think, and got comfortable, and that’s when they started making errors and let them get back. They did the same thing in the third set: They were up 5-2, and … they feel like, ‘OK, we only have to win one more.’ They let two more creep back. I think when they get comfortable, they let their guard down a little bit, and that’s when they lose points.”
Reinartz has won five straight matches since a season-opening loss to Tippecanoe Valley’s Cameron Manuel.
“When he plays defensive, he’s just not quite as strong, and when he plays more aggressively and really works on his forehand, he can really dictate points, and that’s what he did tonight for sure, especially in the second set,” Heyde said.
Bozzo is a former basketball player who stands 6-4.
“His groundstrokes are really solid,” Heyde said of Bozzo. “He’s long. He has reach, so he can get to stuff, and he really works people around the court, hitting to their forehand and their backhand and moving them around.”
Results: Rochester 4, Triton 1
Singles
Tanner Reinartz (RHS) def. Caden Large (TRI), 6-3, 6-1
Robert Bozzo (RHS) def. Ethan Shively (TRI), 6-3, 6-1
Colton Large (TRI) def. Ashton Musselman (RHS), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
Doubles
Harrison Dunwoody-Brady Morgan (RHS) def. Zak Greer-Max Ritchison (TRI), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
Carter Merideth-Jack Reffett (RHS) def. Jaydon Heckaman-Blayze Hensley (TRI), 7-5, 7-5
JV: Rochester 2, Triton 0
Singles
Wade Bowers (RHS) def. Hunter Arveson (TRI), 8-0
Doubles
Hunter Kamp-Jonas Kiser (RHS) def. Hunter Arveson-Oliver Ickes (TRI), 7-0
Harrsion Dunwoody Brady Morgan
