Chesterton No. 2 doubles team of Brady McWhirter and Ryland Tolton scored the clinching point in sectional title match and might need to do the same in regional semifinal vs. host LaPorte on Tuesday

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Tom Bour always has treated his Chesterton tennis lineups the way most golfers treat their swings. He never stops tinkering until it feels just right to him.
This season was no exception. So, even though it was late in a season going well, Bour shuffled two spots in his lineup. Thus far, it has paid off.
Bour had been using two of three juniors ¬– Jack Ciupak, Bryce Douglass and Ryland Tolton – at No. 2 doubles. None of the three combinations quite met Bour’s expectations, so the coach repeated a move he made in midseason a year ago and pulled Brady McWhirter from the No. 3 singles spot to play No. 2 doubles.
“We didn’t know who he was going to play with necessarily,” Bour said of when he made the move. “Jack Ciupak was playing great. Bryce Douglass was playing well, and then Ryland got an opportunity, and he never let go. He kept improving, improving, improving and then working after practice, working on weekends. He earned it.”
Ciupak shifted to No. 3 singles and Bour’s tinkering days were put on hold until he coaches the girls tennis team in the spring.
McWhirter and Tolton fell behind early in the first set of the sectional title match but then got on a roll that carried them to a 6-4, 6-3 win over Valparaiso’s No. 2 doubles in the sectional title match Wednesday at Valpo. The clinching point improved the McWhirter-Tolton tandem’s record to 9-2.
“We started winning most of our 2 doubles matches and we were kind of 50-50 before that,” Tolton said.
Bour explained his thinking behind his final 2025 lineup tinker: “We needed some experience. We needed some energy down at 2 doubles. We knew Brady was great for that. We did to him last year. We needed the same thing last year and that’s what we did with him last year.”
That extra year of experience from the senior McWhirter brought more consistency to the performance of the No. 2 doubles team, according to Tolton.
“I’m not as consistent as he is, but I usually hit it harder, so if it’s my serve it would be easier to win the point,” Tolton said.
When McWhirter made the move from No. 3 singles last year, he was paired with since graduated Hayden Matthys.
“Ryland’s a lot like Hayden,” McWhirter said.
How so?
“Loud,” McWhirter said. “We’re both loud. We like to scream. We’re both aggressive and we both like to scream. We have a lot of energy when we play, and that affects how we play. We play a lot better when we’re loud. We’ve played better every single match since we were put together.”
Having a player equally adept at singles and doubles enables Bour to constantly look at possible lineup revisions.
“I like both, but doubles is a little more fun because I have someone to talk to, instead of just hitting the ball, hitting the ball, hitting the ball,” McWhirter said. “It’s more teamwork.”
Tolton steadily has improved since his freshman season, and attributes that in part to taking private lessons from Kenny Walsh, who joined Bour and assistant coach Scott Garrison as a volunteer assistant this season.
“It helps a lot,” Tolton said. “I’ve been doing lessons with him for a year-and-a-half, and I went from last on JV, to 2 doubles on JV, to 2 doubles on varsity.”
Chesterton next faces LaPorte, which came as close to defeating the Trojans as anyone in Chesterton’s sixth consecutive 7-0 conference season on Sep. 4. The regional semifinal is scheduled for Tuesday at Kessling Park in LaPorte at 4:30 p.m.
Luke Sorgic and Peytan Belegal scored easy straight-set wins at home against the Slicers, but the third point was a tough one. McWhirter lost at No. 3 singles and the Slicers earned the No. 1 doubles point with a 6-0, 7-6 (7-4) victory over Jake Bell and Shane Henry.
All the other matches were done when Douglass and Ciupak were in a tight battle with the Slicers’ No. 2 doubles team. The Trojans delivered in the clutch, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6).
It’s possible the match could come down to the No. 2 doubles point again, this time with McWhirter and Tolton taking the place of Douglass and Ciupak.
The winner of the CHS-LP semifinal faces the winner of Hobart vs. South Bend St. Joseph. Chesterton is ranked No. 22 in the state and St. Joe is No. 5.