Sports Round-Up by Paul Beitler

Tigers win first tennis match
The Bluffton Tigers boys’ tennis team opened its 2009 season Tuesday with a 3-2 victory over the Blackford Bruins at Hartford City.
Bluffton won two of its three singles matches and split the two doubles contests. The Tigers’ junior varsity team won 5-3.

VARSITY SINGLES: Cameron Gerber (BLU) def. Austin Ford 3-6, 6-2, 6-3; Jackson Bates (BLU) def. Aric Durm 6-3, 7-5; Evan Baughey (BLA) def. Alex Penrod 6-2, 6-1.
VARSITY DOUBLES: Blake Mussleman/Trevor Schambers (BLA) def. Bryan Bowman/Nick Huffman 7-6 (7-5), 6-3; Michael Vanderkolk/Damon Kuhlenbeck (BLU) def. Damon Kemp/Ethan Harriett 6-1, 6-1.

JUNIOR VARSITY SINGLES: Zach Mezera (BLU) def. Trevor Smith 8-1; Seth Thompson (BLU) def. Bailey Landis 8-3; Trey Mettler (BLU) def. Brent Rucker 8-1; Robbie Elliott (BLA) def. Stephen Vanderkolk 8-4; Trevor Smith (BLA) def. Dillon Myers 8-3; Brent Rucker (BLA) def. Austin Okey 8-3.

JUNIOR VARSITY DOUBLES: Luke Bertsch/Josh Buckland (BLU) def. Chase Twibell/Mitchell Lanning 9-7; Matt Dann/Carson Addington (BLU) def. Bailey Landis/Robbie Elliott 8-2.

Canterbury downs Norwell golfers
Norwell’s Kristen Springer and Canterbury’s Sarah Dusman tied for medalist honors on Tuesday, but Canterbury shot down the Knights 184-199 in girls’ golf action at Timber Ridge Golf Course in Bluffton.
It was the second straight day that Springer shot a 41 on the front nine and led the Knights.
Hilary Robertson added a 43 for Canterbury. Caitlin Sullivan and Megan Keller each shot a 50 for the Cavaliers. Marianne Hafer finished up with a 54.
Cassie Herndon followed Springer with a 49. Hannah Porrata added a 54 and Megan Evans shot a 55. Olivia Shapley ended up with a 65 for Norwell.

Knights boot SA in girls’ soccer
Tasia DeLeon scored the winning goal in the second half to lead the Norwell Knights girls’ soccer team to a 2-1 victory over the South Adams Starfires in the first match of the season at Norwell.
Lauren Johnson gave Norwell a 1-0 lead in the first half with a goal that was assisted by Caitlin Ailor.
South Adams’ Victoria Smith broke up Norwell’s bid for a shutout with a penalty kick goal.
Norwell goalkeeper Ashton Springer made 17 saves. Jessie Beavers had eight saves for South Adams.

Norwell spikers beat Starfires
Lauren Klansek, Lindsey Dahn and Amanda McAfee powered the Norwell Knights girls’ volleyball team to 3-0 victory over the visiting South Adams Starfires on Tuesday.
Klansek hammered nine kills in the season-opening match for Norwell. Dahn fired seven kills and McAfee five. Norwell won the first game 25-19 and followed with games of 25-23, 25-15.
Mallory Bushee had 13 assists and 10 digs. Breanna Wilson had two service aces and 10 digs. Klansek also had 10 digs. McAfee also had two solo blocks.
Karen Bollenbacher had five kills, one block and 14 digs for South Adams (0-2). Kassy Potts had 20 digs and Kysha Cox had 10 digs and two aces.
Norwell won the junior varsity match 25-13, 25-8. Jessica Louison had six kills. Amber Haiflich and Louison each had six aces. Addie Williams had five digs.

Cushman leads Norwell runners
Norwell junior Alex Cushman finished sixth on Tuesday to lead the Knights in the DeKalb Invitational boys’ cross country meet at Waterloo.
No team scores were kept. It was a season-opening individual event.
Cushman ran the 5,000-meter course in 17:39. Teammate Brandon Long was 8th in 17:57. Ben DeVoe was 47th in 19:45, Alex Schmidt 71st in 20:29, Joe Kumfer 91st in 21:22, Jacob Graft 121st in 23:58 and Brandon Sutton 145th in 30:58.

Bluffton HS seeking event workers
Bluffton High School is seeking adults to serve as event workers during the upcoming school year. Event workers will earn a discount or free adult all-sports passes for all Bluffton athletic events or can receive pay for their work. Needed are volleyball line judges and ticket sellers. Please contact Athletic Director Steve Thompson at 824-3724 or by e-mail at sthompson@bhmsd.k12.in.us

Decker, Gilliom lead senior golfers
Jack Decker and Bob Gilliom tied for the top spot for the Tuesday Men’s Senior Golf League at Green Valley Golf Course in Bluffton. Both had a low gross score of 43.
Bill Amburn had the low net of 31. Members of the winning team were Bob Myers, Paul Perry, Joe Gilbert and Richard Ehrsam. Amburn also was closest-to-the-pin winner. Bill Milholland made the longest putt.

Cross country polls released
The Indiana Track and Cross Country Coaches Association preseason cross country polls are as follows:

GIRLS
1. Carmel; 2. Lake Central; 3. Valparaiso; 4. Noblesville; 5. Columbus North; 6. Carroll (Allen); 7. Portage; 8. Westfield; 9. Franklin Central; 10. Huntington North; 11. Crown Point; 12. FW Northrop; 13. West Noble; 14. North Central; 15. Northridge; 16. Bloomington South; 17. Brownsburg; 18. DeKalb; 19. Westfield; 20. Heritage Hills; 21. Terre Haute North; 22. Bishop Chatard; 23. Madison; 24. Center Grove; 25. Bloomington North.

BOYS
1. North Central; 2. Carmel; 3. Huntington North; 4. Terre Haute North; 5. Chesterton; 6. Noblesville; 7. Fishers; 8. Columbus North; 9. Franklin Central; 10. Concord; 11. Zionsville; 12. FW Bishop Dwenger; 13. Warren Central; 14. Hamilton Southeastern; 15. Valparaiso; 16. Bloomington South; 17. New Albany; 18. Westfield; 19. FW Snider; 20. Carroll (Allen); 21. LaPorte; 22. McCutcheon; 23. Center Grove; 24. Floyd Central; 25. West Noble.