Photos by Corey Stolzenbach/The Herald
Northeast Dubois junior Aden Thewes had a tiebreaker win Tuesday in the One Singles match. Northeast Dubois bested Bloomfield, 4-1.

By COREY STOLZENBACH
sports@dcherald.com

DUBOIS — The good times keep on rolling on the tennis court for Northeast Dubois.

The Jeeps (11-2) rolled off a 4-1 win against Bloomfield on Tuesday, winning all except the Two Singles match. It was the first of three consecutive days Northeast Dubois was scheduled to play this week, and the Jeeps have only lost to Barr-Reeve and Loogootee earlier this year.

"We just have some guys that are working hard, are coachable and they've come a long way from the beginning of the year, and it's paying off," Jeeps coach Dwayne Knies said.

The Jeeps secured the win when junior Nick Hemmerlein won the Three Singles match against Cardinals freshman Nolan Hughes, 6-2, 6-4, and also swept doubles play. Seniors Tanner Hurt and Logan Lampert pulled off the One Doubles win against Cardinals seniors Reese Schulte and Wilson Keene, 6-4, 6-2. Senior Tucker Neukam and sophomore Ty Kalb took down Bloomfield sophomores Travis Priest and Austin Hall, 6-3, 6-4.

Knies thought both of his doubles teams got off to a slow start, only to have a fire lit underneath them and began playing well. He thought they served well, volleyed well, were aggressive and put pressure on their opponents.

Northeast Dubois had a tweaked lineup on Tuesday compared to some recent matches. Hurt had been playing in the Two Singles spot recently, but Knies reverted him back to doubles, and had another senior, Ross Mehringer, in the Two Singles slot.

"I just thought we needed to switch it up a little bit, and I thought Tanner and Ross were playing well at singles last week when we had them there," Knies said. "But then we also know that Tanner's probably one of our strongest doubles players, and I think it's important that our doubles got a little stronger. We're just trying things out to trying to find the right combination going into the sectional is what we're looking for."

Mehringer took the opening set of the Two Singles match, only for him to lose the tiebreaker against Cardinals junior Ryan Schulte.

Junior Aden Thewes also competed in a tiebreaker Tuesday in the One Singles match against fellow junior Baylin Graf of Bloomfield. Thewes dropped the first set, but dug deep, forced the tiebreaker and prompted cheers from his teammates when he pulled off the victory.

"I really felt that I had a chance to win the match," Thewes said. "I thought I played good in the first set. I just started off a little weak, making quite a few unforced errors and I knew I had to cut those unforced errors out and I would be good to win the match."

"He changed his game a little bit," Knies later added. "He started coming to the net more, and we've been trying to get him to do that. He's been more aggressive, put some the pressure on the guy, got some good volleys and overheads and he did that the second set, he carried it into the tiebreaker. So, that was the key for him."

Northeast Dubois senior Ross Mehringer returns a ball in the Two Singles match on Tuesday. Mehringer lost the tiebreaker, but the Jeeps won, 4-1.

The Jeeps are scheduled to be back at it Wednesday at home against Paoli and travel Thursday to South Knox. Northeast Dubois has to submit its lineup for next week's Loogootee sectional by Thursday and the Jeeps will be sure to look at the different combinations they have.

Knies said the Jeeps will look at how their doubles did on Tuesday and might switch things up some more to see what is best for them. He isn't worried, though, about his players getting tired while playing three days in a row, citing that they like to play.

"We just got to keep playing good tennis, that's what I've been telling the boys all year," Knies said. "You have to do the right thing at the right time, and that means sometimes, you don't over-hit, sometimes you place the ball in the right spot. We always talk about playing good tennis, and they have to be prepared.

"And then the other thing we have to do is get off to better starts," he continued. "Our doubles got off to slow starts tonight. We got to get off to a better start, and that's something we're going to really talk to the team about here the rest of the week."