Mason Vrablic’s head coaching career is in its infancy, but he will likely never see his team win again after dropping the opening set in all five varsity matches like he did on Monday.
The Bluffton Tigers won the opener on every court and looked well on their way to a convincing victory over their sectional rivals.
The rally began in the No. 1 doubles match, where Averie Coats and Ella Ross had fallen 7-5, but came back for a convincing 6-1 win in the second set to force a deciding set. That was followed by turnaround wins by Lilyana Suarez and Lillian Jin in their doubles matches to flip the match on its head.
Simply put, the senior leadership of the team showed experience and calm that comes from winning conference and sectional titles last year.
Most importantly, the Braves took those three wins in the second sets and followed them all up with wins in the third for a rather shocking 3-2 victory.
Bellmont will face another tough match when they play Adams Central in Monroe on Wednesday.
Varsity Scores
Bellmont 3 Bluffton 2
No. 1-Hazel Pfister (Blf) d. Emma Fuelling, 6-1, 6-1
No. 2-Lillian Jin (Bell) d. Emma Schwartz, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2
No. 3-Lilyana Suarez (Bell) d. Lynne Drayer, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
No. 1-Ella Ross/Averie Coats (Bell) d. Emily Drayer/Sophie Eisenhut, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3
No. 2-Eve Corkwell/Isla Gibson (Blf) d. Sofia Steury/Veronica Franz, 6-1, 6-0
Junior Varsity Scores
Madison Duncan (Blf) d. Sammi Knipstein, 8-0
Namine VanHyfte (Blf) d. Elle Laurent, 8-6
Aleeah Grover/Piper Morgan (Blf) d. Brea Shoaf/Allyson Curtis, 8-2
Anna Zurcher/Kenley Fank (Blf) d. Addison Rich/Paige Black, 8-1
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