Western’s boys tennis team just keeps on winning.

The Panthers fashioned an undefeated regular season in 2009 and followed with their first sectional and regional titles, but coach Brandon Shawhan faced a rebuilding project this fall. He had just one returning player, singles player Benji Fountain.

Yet, Western is 10-0 overall and 3-0 in the Mid-Indiana Conference following a a 5-0 victory over Northwestern on Tuesday at Russiaville.

Shawhan said he is not surprised by the fast start.

“They know I have high expectations for them at all times,” Shawhan said of his players. “If we’re going to put all of this hard work in, we might as well shoot for the best.”

Fountain anchors the Panthers’ new-look lineup from the No. 1 singles position. He manned the No. 3 spot on the 2009 regional title team.

In singles matches against the Tigers, Fountain rallied for a 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 1, Matt Orr was a 6-3, 7-5 winner at No. 2 and Tyler Lucas was a 6-3, 6-3 winner at No. 3.

“Northwestern put up really good fights at [Nos.] 1 and 2 singles. I was really pleased with Benji and Matt for pulling through tough,” Shawhan said, noting the Tigers are solid at the top of their lineup with Tyler Peterson and Matt Mervis.

In the doubles matches, Andrew Lindley and Raghav Haran took a 6-0, 3-6, 6-1 win at No. 1 and Brandon Penning and Austin LaFollette rolled to a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 2.

Northwestern mixed its lineup a little, breaking up its normal No. 1 doubles team of Ben-Marvin Egel and Bryan Beachy. Still, the Panther skipper liked how his players came out focused at each point.

“They have definitely shown they’re getting better and better each week. The biggest thing for us is to not let up on our desire,” he said.

Mississinewa 3, Taylor 2

The Titans started the year 5-0, but lost their second straight match with a misleading score at Mississinewa

“The matches we lost were not close,” Taylor coach Dave Wise said, noting that “3-2 sounds close, but Mississinewa was solid and had more experience. We now have five MIC matches coming up, and we have our work cut out for us.”

Nathan Gotshall improved to 7-0 on the year at No. 2 singles with a 6-1, 6-4 victory, while the No. 1 doubles tandem of Matt Brankle and Cameron Clark improved to 6-1 on the season after a 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 win.

Volleyball

Kokomo def. northwestern 25-17, 25-17, 25-21

Ball State recruit Kelly Hopkins floored 20 kills to lead the Wildkats past the Tigers. In addition, Hopkins had seven digs, four serving aces and three blocks.

Northwestern coach Marty Britten noted Hopkins was a tough matchup for his squad.

“I told Kelly Hopkins this was the last time I’ll see her. For the last four years, she has kind of been a burr in our side. You get her a good set and she’ll kill you and she did that [Tuesday] several times,” Britten said.

Also for Kokomo (2-7), Samantha Johnson had nine assists and two aces, Shelby Tickfer had nine assists and Kasie Hellmann had five digs and two aces.

“We had some great energy and going in and playing Northwestern in their gym, I didn’t want to overlook them. We did a good job of not doing that,” Kokomo coach Jason Watson said. “We started off with a rough schedule, and it’s nice to see us come together and grow as a team and get some momentum going. We’re getting better every day, and hoping can build on the momentum we have after a couple wins in a row.”

Hannah McDermott led the Tigers (1-10) with seven service points and eight serve receptions. Also for Britten’s squad, Kelsey Priday had a dozen digs and eight serve receptions and Anna Sloss had 11 digs.

“I thought Hannah McDermott played a pretty decent all-around match. It was probably her best night of the season,” Britten said. “She was there for the serve receive, she played well in the back row, and her service was fairly decent.”

Eastern def. Oak Hill 18-25, 15-25, 25-19, 25-23, 17-15

The Comets faced a 2-0 deficit before bouncing back to outlast the Golden Eagles at home in five sets to improve to 5-7 (1-0 MIC) on the year.

“Confidence-wise, [Tuesday] night was huge,” Eastern coach Meredith Cipriano said. “We were as consistent as we’ve played in those last three games. Early in the match, we let Oak Hill do what they wanted and shot ourselves in the foot with silly mistakes. I challenged the girls and let them know that Oak Hill was a good team that was competitive with the other teams we’ve played, and the girls did a good job of putting their egos aside and went out and played hard, and that was nice to see.

“In those last three games we played well, and shook off mistakes and did something positive with the next chance.”

Hayley Mavrick posted a 20-kill, 18-dig, five-block night to lead Eastern, and Kati Evenson (seven blocks, eight kills) and Allyse Turner (nine kills, three blocks) added solid support at the net.

Amanda Alexander dished out 43 assists to go with her seven kills, and Colby Marner rounded out the Comet leaders with 19 service points, five aces and 10 digs.

Taylor def. H. Heights 23-25, 25-18, 25-23, 28-26

Coach Myndie Everling has been searching for the right combination through the Titan’s first 12 matches, and seemed to find it Tuesday, as Taylor won its MIC opener in Arcadia to improve to 3-9 on the year.

“I see a lot of improvement,” Everling said. “The first nine matches were to get ready for our conference schedule. [Tuesday], the chemistry was right, and we had the right six on the court at the right time.

“We just have to keep playing like we did tonight. We weren’t worried about losing, we just went out to played, and if we keep doing that, we will be fine.”

Bri Barnett distributed 13 assists to go with her 11 kills, while Mone’y Black added 14 assists and nine kills.

Rebecca Maack added a well-balance attack that included 13 digs, six kills and a pair of aces. Brooklyn Lemons led the back row with 19 digs, while Brooke Barbary added 13 digs and five kills.

Rossville def. Tri-Central 25-13, 16-25, 22-25, 25-14, 15-8

The Trojans let one slip away, according to coach Ron Byram, falling to 4-8 (0-2 Hoosier Heartland Conference) in the process.

“We made too many serving errors and helped them out with a few unforced errors,” Byram said. “It really was a great match with a lot of long volleys, we just gave them too many free points.”

Taylor Farris was among the Trojans’ leaders in every category, finishing with 24 digs, nine assists and five kills.

“Farris had a nice all-around game,” Byram said “Rossville had one really good hitter, and [Taylor] dug her a few times, along with her nice setting and hitting. She did a nice job [Tuesday] night.

Bri Humphries tied a team high with five kills, while Caili Thomas added 18 digs and Cara Thomas finished with seven assists.

Boys CC

Oak Hill Invitational

Western took top team honors in the 11-team invitational with 38 points, topping the host Golden Eagles (54) and Eastbrook (64), while Eastern rounded out the top four with 105 points.

Eastbrook’s Josh Neideck set the pace, and finished first overall in a time of 17 minutes, five seconds.

Western’s Chris Love was 22 seconds off Neideck’s pace in second place at 17:27. Matt Grider (fifth, 17:56), Christopher Nunan (eighth, 18:27) and Braxton Bagwell (10th, 18:30) all added top-10 finishes, and Kyle Starich rounded out the scores for the Panthers in 13th place in 18:39.

“We like for our guys to go out conservatively because teams that don’t tend to fall back in the end,” Western coach Gary Jewell said. “We put ourselves behind the eight ball in the beginning. At the mile mark, Oak Hill had five guys in front of our third runner. Fortunately, it’s not a mile race, and our third, fourth, and fifth guys did a super job of moving up.”

Ryan Horner led the Comets with a third-place showing in 17:29, and Sam Clark followed in ninth at 18:28. Lewis Duke (27th, 19:36), Quinn Connolly (35th, 20:15) and Luke Kimmel (36th, 20:17) rounded out the top five for Eastern.

“We were pretty happy with things overall,” Eastern coach Brandon Mink said. “Our times were not spectacular, but close to where we would normally be place-wise.

“Sam Clark tied his personal record, and Luke Kimmel set a personal record, but in general, the times were slower. But, compared to guys we’ve been running with, for this time in the season, we’re right where I thought we would be.”

Jordan Garretson led Peru’s squad with an 11th-place finish. Also for the Bengals, Tyler Kintner was 46th, Clint Hazelett was 47th, Shane Garretson was 51st and Ryan Carter was 55th.

Lafayette Jeff 30, Carroll 41, Kokomo 56

Kokomo’s Adrian Glover covered the Highland Park course in 17:39 to grab the top finishing spot ahead of Carroll’s Blake Mills (17:58) and Lafayette Jeff’s Jesse McCallister (18:06).

Also for the Kats, Brent Noll was 10th in 19:55, Matt Scharenbroch was 13th in 20:19, Waylon Coulter was 15th in 20:33 and Jeremy Breedlove was their fifth finisher, taking 18th in 20:52.

Also for Carroll, Jordan Tooley grabbed a fifth-place finish.

Logansport 17, Northwestern 46

Northwestern’s top five runners on Logan’s course were: Sam Freeman (18:40, fourth place); Charlie Neher (20:35, ninth); Nolan Cockrell (20:51, 10th); Kyle Condon (11th, 21:39) and Zach Duranto (12th, 21:51).

“Logansport has a very good team. They have far more runners than we do, but I thought my guys did a good job,” NW coach Dave Stevens said. “For the majority of my top seven, this was their first time to ever run on the course and I was pleased with their times. I think when we come back for [Logan’s] invitational, they will be mush faster because they know the course now.”

Girls CC

Oak Hill Invitational

Sophomore Bethany Neeley is yet to be beaten this year. Tuesday, she topped the field in a time of 20:03, and sister Brittany Neeley took third in 20:47, helping lead Eastern to a third place finish with 93 points.

Jay County scored 61 to win the team title, followed by host Oak Hill (82). Western rounded out the top four with 95 points.

“Bethany is doing a great job,” coach Brandon Mink said. “[Tuesday] it was windy, and she stuck in second place the whole time. She let other girls break the wind, and with 800 meters or so left she took off. She ran a smart, tactical race.”

Emily Wilcox (17th, 22:51), Bailey Pressey (32nd, 24:14) and Cambry Martin (46th, 25:41) rounded out the top five for the Comets

“We expected to be right in the mix in top three,” Mink said. “Unfortunately, one of our top five went down with an injury midrace, but considering she dropped out, we did pretty well losing one in the middle of the race. Hopefully we can get everyone healthy again and see what we can do coming up.”

Western’s top five runners were: Corianne Myer (21:08, fourth place); Krissy Durr (22:50, 16th); Erin Weber (23:04, 20th); Cara Love (23:49, 26th); and Gina Jakubowicz (24:04, 29th).

“Overall, the girls did a really nice job,” Western coach Joni McCracken said. “Corianne finishing fourth was a very nice showing for her. She ran an excellent race.

“Overall, as a team, I think the girls are starting to see where they need to be in an actual race. They are starting to apply what they’ve been working on.”

Peru finished sixth. Keyia McConahay led the Bengals with a 12th-place finish. Emilie Hobbs (14th), Taylour Kintner (25th), Gena Fisher (48th) and Kyia Haidaczuk (49th) rounded out their top five.

Northwestern 16, Logansport 42

Led by Hannah Ault, Northwestern took the top four spots in the meet at Logan. Ault finished first in a time of 22:24.

The Tigers’ other top runners were: Heidi Freeman (22:40, second place); Gretchen Catron (22:42, third); Britanny Jocius (23:53, fourth); and Taryn Thor (sixth, 24:27).

“I was very happy with the girls. They ran hard, they attacked the course,” coach Dave Stevens said, noting the windy conditions hurt the Tigers’ times.

“The veterans did a really good job of making sure the younger girls knew all the stuff about the course. As soon as we stepped off the bus, they were taking them to places on the course and showing them stuff. I was really proud of their leadership. I think that helped the younger girls’ run better times than what they may have run if we had just turned them loose on the course,” he added.

Lafayette Jeff 20, Carroll 42, Kokomo inc.

Bridgett Peden and Maria Lewis led Carroll. Peden covered the Highland Park course in 23:38 and finished in third place and Lewis (24:05) finished fifth.

Kierra Bronson led an incomplete Kokomo squad with a seventh-place finish (25:36).

Girls soccer

Taylor 1, Western 0

Avery Gotshall scored off Courtney Schroeder’s assist in the opening 10 minutes for the game’s lone goal.

“We were able to score early. … We weren’t too successful in putting another goal in even though we seemed to be in control of the game most of the time,” Taylor coach John Piotrowicz said. “Our passing looked really good and we played really well as a team. It was probably our best game to date, at least in our team play.”

Taylor ’keeper Cammie Mosier recorded eight saves in the shutout.

“Our defensive line stepped up really well,” Piotrowicz noted. “We’ve been struggling a little bit, just getting some cohesiveness going with our back girls. They played very well together [Tuesday].”

Taylor improved to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the MIC. Western dropped to 4-3 and 3-2.

Emily Hawkins had seven saves for the Panthers.

Northwestern 5, Maconaquah 0

Amanda Kuffell and Brandi Harmon had two goals each for the Tigers, and Northwestern’s defense, led by Addison Dubbels and Lacy Hunt, kept the visiting Braves from getting off a single shot.

Northwestern (5-3, 1-1 MIC) held a 1-0 lead at the half, and erupted for four goals in the second half to run away from Maconaquah. Krysta Rhea’s second-half goal rounded out the scoring for the Tigers, as Brianna Smallwood, Kaitlynd Lear, Shayla Kenworthy and Melissa Ullmer each added an assist.

“We battled the wind — it was strong,” NW coach Kacy Slee said. “We changed our game and played to beat the wind. We had to do things a little differently because the wind was blowing straight across the field. I’m proud of the girls for adapting to the situation.”

Boys soccer

Eastern 6, Taylor 3

Wes Horner scored the first goal of the contest for the Comets, found the back of the net to start the second half, and rounded out his hat trick with the final goal of the contest as Eastern picked up a road win over the Titans to improve to 3-4 overall, 2-0 in the MIC.

Derek Conwell added a goal for the Comets, as did Andrew Kerner, while Jordan VanMatre finished with a goal and an assist. Jonah Evans and Brayden Bogue both dished out assists, as well.

Eastern held a 3-2 halftime edge before breaking away in the second half.

“The score was 6-3, and it looks like we dominated, but [Taylor was] ahead 2-1 at one point, and we had to work hard for the equalizer,” Eastern coach John VanMatre said. “We made a couple adjustments at halftime, saw some things we could capitalize on, and we did. It looks like a blowout, but it was a tight game, especially early.”

Freshman Delon Tuggle drew the start in goal for the Comets, and finished the night with eight saves. One of Taylor’s scores was an own goal.

Tuggle replaced Bryce Reed in goal after Reed broke a finger in last week’s match with Frankfort. Reed moved to defense, where he put forth an excellent effort, according to John VanMatre.

Spencer McQueary, Calib Wininger and Chris Hosier each had a goal for Taylor (2-4-1, 1-3 MIC), while Hosier and Ryan Goudy both dished out assists.

Seth Stockdell had six saves in goal for the Titans.

Northwestern 2, Peru 1

The Purple Tigers remained unbeaten in conference play after edging the Bengal Tigers at home. Northwestern improved to 5-1-1 on the campaign, and 3-0 in MIC play.

Robert Olsen and Brett Galloway provided the goals for Northwestern, with both assists coming from Dalton Smallwood.

Kyle Smith added two saves in the victory for the Purple Tigers.

Blackford 3, Tri-Central 1

Clay Shaffer found the net in the first half on an assist from Jake Kimbrough to give the Trojans (1-4-2) a 1-0 lead at the half, but the Bruins booted a trio of goals in the second half to defend their home field.

Caleb Palmer netted 10 saves in goal for Tri-Central.

Twin Lakes 3, Carroll 1

The Indians jumped to a 2-0 halftime lead, then held off the Cougars’ comeback attempt in the second half.

Justin Wiiloughby scored Carroll’s lone goal.