Ironmen back in form in rout of Seals

The Danville News

April 25, 2008 10:44 am

— SELINSGROVE — The last seven days haven’t been the most kind to Danville’s tennis team.
A week ago at this time, the Ironmen were 6-2, with an outside shot at the Susquehanna Valley League title. Then they lost three of four matches, including tight battles with SVL frontrunners Hughesville and Loyalsock.
Even though the losses stung, the young lineup learned something from each setback. There’s no better evidence of that than Thursday’s 5-0 thrashing at Selinsgrove where Danville won all five matches in straight sets.
The Ironmen, now 8-5, dropped just eight games in three singles matches and were even more dominant in doubles where the Seals (2-10) managed to take just five points.
“We had a couple of hard battles (last week), but you could see it helped the guys,” said Danville coach Jon Cook. “Those matches make you better. You could see the growth from our last meeting with Selinsgrove. The last time there were some close matches, this time we took care of business.”
Danville’s domination started in singles where juniors Peter Blankenship and Greg Bowser and senior Jefferson Bohan swept three matches.
Blankenship shut out the Seals’ Nabeel Akhtar in the first set and then battled his way through the second set for a 6-0, 6-4 win.
Bowser and Bohan both won 6-1, 6-1 with Bowser rolling over Brett Oren and Bohan taking out Jordan Ettinger.
Cook was pleased with the way Bohan played.
“Jefferson looked very good,” said Cook. “He played the same type of player he did against Hughesville, someone who hits lots of balls back. He stayed patient and won easily. That’s what I wanted to see.”
Danville’s young doubles teams were just as, if not more dominant.
Fanchen Yang and Lucas Franklin dropped just a single game in a 6-0, 6-1 win over Jon Becker and Kevin Metz. At No. 2, Forrest Strodel and Tom Fausnaught bounced back from a rare poor showing earlier this week with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Scott Gehman and Caleb Aurand.
The victory secures a winning season for the Ironmen, who close out the year Monday against Montoursville.