A sun-splashed day served as a fitting backdrop on April 10 for the Talawanda High School tennis team to defeat Lebanon High School to earn its first win of the season.

A two-hour tie-breaker doubles match featuring freshmen Connor Pulaski and Bryce Wortman secured the 3-2 team victory for the Brave. Earlier in the day, sophomore Milo Flaspohler, won his first singles match, and seniors Charles Murray and Thomas Collins won their first doubles match.

“We’re young, so we’re going to take some lumps, obviously this was a nice win for us,” said Head Coach Pete Thomas after the down-to-the-wire team win. 

Junior Ryan Hohn played third singles and said he felt “good” about his performance, despite losing 7-6, 6-3.

Thomas said  his squad is showing improvement as it gains more experience. The Brave previously lost 5-0 to both Badin High School and St. Xavier High School and 4-1 to Southwest Ohio Conference rival Harrison. 

Thomas said he “tweaked some of the lineup,” going into the Lebanon match, flipping the lineup for first and second doubles. “We’re getting into the part of the season where there’s some winnable matches and obviously we want to win the ones that we can, and today was one of those,” Thomas said.

Talawanda’s overall record stands at 1-4 (0-1 in their conference) following a 3-2 loss April 11 at Fenwick High School. The Brave play at Eaton High School April 14 then return home to take on Monroe April 17.