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 Culver teacher Terri Zechiel and student Cheyenne Durbin (standing) listen to author Carolyn Crimi Thursday. Pilot photo/Jeff Kenney By Jeff Kenney Staff Writer CULVER — Culver Elementary School played host to the 25th annual Marshall County Young Author’s Conference Thursday night and marked the occasion with a visit from award-winning children’s author Carolyn Crimi. Crimi shared time with students at the school before a private book signing and “meet and greet” with winners in the conference’s annual student writing contest, and gave an address to parents and students in the school’s recently-renovated gymnasium. |
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Different venue, same result for Plymouth |
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Monday, 05 October 2009 |
 Plymouth’s Bo Davidson hits an awkward shot during No. 2 singles play earlier this year. Davidson and the rest of the Pilgrims lineup won their 13th straight sectional Saturday. Pilot file photo/ Alan Hall SOUTH BEND — After two straight rain-outs and a change of venue Saturday, Plymouth head tennis coach Michael Delp challenged his players to be ready. They obliged, and the Pilgrims won their 13th straight boys tennis sectional title in a Bremen Sectional that took place at the Racquet Club in South Bend Saturday. After inclement weather postponed play Thursday and Friday, more rain Saturday forced the change of venue at the Bremen Sectional. Following their impromptu trip up to the Racquet Club, Plymouth players dispatched Triton 4-1 in the semifinal before sweeping Bremen — which advanced to the championship with a 4-1 win over John Glenn — for the title and the right to advance to the South Bend Clay Regional Tuesday. “It was a challenging end of the week,” said Delp. “We had talked about being ready to play. Both nights, everybody is warming up on the courts and it starts to rain. Saturday was tough just because it was already raining, and I challenged our guys to be ready to play anyway. “There were definitely opportunities where it could have gone either way early on. I thought our guys did a good job of stepping up and getting some big points along the way.”
“I thought our singles played exceptionally well all day. I thought that was a good sign for us,” Delp said. “I know our 1 doubles was disappointed with their result against Triton, but those guys haven’t lost many this year. I thought they did a good job of bouncing back from a tough loss and being mentally ready to play against Bremen.”
It was a heart-warming win for the Pilgrims lineup, which has occasionally struggled with inexperience in some disappointing decisions this year.
“I’m really proud of this team and how they’ve developed through this year,” said Delp. “There were some good teams in sectional. It was a year we had to earn a championship, and I thought our guys did a great gob of doing that on Saturday.”
Plymouth moves on to face the winner of the Culver Military Academy Sectional Tuesday in round one of the Clay Regional at Leeper Park in South Bend. CMA plays Knox today for the sectional crown after inclement weather postponed play at Culver Saturday.
If CMA, which is the favorite at its home sectional, gets through, Tuesday’s semifinal will be a rematch of the Clay championship last year, when the Pilgrims dropped a tough 3-2 decision to the Eagles.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to win a few of these sectionals in a row. Last year against CMA was a heartbreaker,” said Delp. “Only one of the guys played in that match but some of the others watched it so hopefully they’ve seen what it takes to win a regional.
‘We know we’ve got an uphill climb against CMA. We just played them and lost 3-2 Tuesday, and especially with their No. 1 not playing, it’s going to be tough. But I definitely like going in as the underdog because you don’t have anything to lose.
“Hopefully, because of the competition we’ve put ourselves in front of — and I know they play some good competition too — it won’t be anything they’ll back away from. I expect a battle, and it should be a lot of fun.”
• BREMEN BOYS TENNIS SECTIONAL
At South Bend Racquet Club
Championship
Plymouth 5, Bremen 0
Singles: 1. Andy Langdon (P) over Taylor Fanning (B) 6-1, 6-0; 2. Bo Davidson (P) over Jaxson Burkins (B) 6-1, 6-0; 3. Gabe Vervynckt (P) over Briley Bollenbacher (B) 6-0, 6-0
Doubles: 1. Connor Flynn-Preston Bastardo (P) over Mitch Cook-Thomas Manges (B) 6-4, 6-2; 2. Matt Sheetz-Jon Tyree (P) over Ty Holmes-Alex Overholser (B) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
Semifinals
Plymouth 4, Triton 1
Singles: 1. Andy Langdon (P) over Ben Montalbano (T) 7-5, 6-3; 2. Bo Davidson (P) over Jeff Ross (T) 6-0, 6-2; 3. Gabe Vervynckt (P) over Josh Gephart (T) 6-0, 6-4
Doubles: 1. Darius Stevens-Bryant Davenport (T) over Connor Flynn-Preston Bastardo (P) 6-3, 6-3; 2. Matt Sheetz-Jon Tyree (P) over Kreig Voreis-Josh Shafer (T) 6-2, 7-5
Bremen 4, Glenn 1
Singles: 1. Taylor Fanning (B) over Trey Rhodes (G) 1-6, 6-1, 6-2; 2. Jordan Hesters (G) over Jaxson Burkins (B) 6-1, 7-5; 3. Briley Bollenbacher (B) over Adam Anspaugh (G) 6-2, 6-2
Doubles: 1. Mitch Cook-Thomas Manges (B) over Garrett Blad-Connor Berkebile (G) 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4; 2. Ty Holmes-Alex Overholser (B) over Travis Weist-Carson Heim (G) 7-5, 2-6, 7-5
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 06 October 2009 )
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