Peaking just in time for the postseason, the Chesterton boys tennis team makes history with first win vs. Munster, 4-1

Patrick Mochen
Onwardtrojans.com

Before Thursday evening, Chesterton had never defeated Munster’s boys tennis team. While No. 2 singles junior Peytan Belegal was still playing in his long match, the No. 2 doubles team of Brady McWhirter and Ryland Tolton won the third point needed to ensure victory vs. the Mustangs. Belegal finished a come-from-behind win during the first set, and then had a dominant second set to grab the fourth point for the Trojans.
“This is the first time we’ve ever beaten Munster as a program,” Chesterton head coach Tom Bour said. “They didn’t know that. I didn't want to tell them. This was circled on our calendar for a long time and heading into sectionals we’re playing great.”
Chesterton earned two quick points from No. 1 singles senior Luke Sorgic (6-1, 6-0) and No. 1 doubles senior Jake Bell and junior Shane Henry (6-1, 6-1). Sorgic’s powerful serve and forehand enabled him to win his match so quickly. Henry and Bell played seamlessly together, with a nearly mistake-free match.
“We just kept it to letting them make the mistakes,” Bell said. “We probably had less than 10 errors the whole match, and we kept the double faults to a minimum. They’ve been beating us every year that I’ve been here, and today was a good day to get a win over them.”
Both of Chesterton’s doubles teams are peaking at the right time with sectionals this week.
The loud, powerful pairing of McWhirter and Tolton took a little longer than Bell and Henry, but never lost control of the match that they won 6-3, 6-2.
“They played one of their cleanest matches of the year,” Bour said. “They didn't dig themselves into any holes. They did a good job of keeping their energy up, keeping it positive. They never let Munster back into the match. We’ve been preaching that we have to take care of the little things, and both doubles teams took care of that today.”
After any Trojan victory, the player or players will yell “Let’s go Trojans!”, letting those on other courts know that they had just won.
Over on the varsity singles court, just south of the doubles court, Belegal hadn’t noticed the third victory yell. Belegal still thought he was under pressure to gain the winning point. He found out while being interviewed that No. 2 doubles took the third point.
“So it wasn't 2-2? I didn’t even know,” he said.
Belegal’s match ended well after Sorgic’s, and even a while after McWhiter’s and Tolton’s match. Belegal and his opponent went on long volleys, rallying the ball back and forth. His match also took a while because he climbed out of a 4-0 hole, winning the first set 6-4. Belegal started to take a more offensive stance, which his opponent didn’t mirror.
“I didn’t want to miss and he didn’t want to miss,” he said, “because he knew he just blew a four-game lead, and so I just kept doing it and I was the one who remembered to hit it offensively. All he did was lob it over again, so I decided to step up, and it worked really well that second set.”
The second set was quicker than the first, with Belegal taking it 6-1. Although he was playing a tough, athletic opponent, Belegal was able to find uncovered spots on the court.
“I think I got into his head with my attitude and my posture on the court, which I held up pretty well today, and I came back,” Belegal said. “Since everyone else finished, all the fans were watching my match, and that fueled me. You can always come back and win.”