ST. JOHN | The Times No. 1 Mustangs are on a mission to Indianapolis this season, and used their opening-day match to make a statement.
Munster traveled to St. John and defeated host No. 4 Lake Central 5-0. The Mustangs won all five matches in straight sets.
"We wanted to start the season on a roll," said No. 1 singles player Jack Heiniger, who won 6-1, 6-0. "We want to get back down to the state finals, and the best way to get there is start off with a win and keep going."
No. 3 singles player Michael Kitchell, who won 6-0, 6-3, echoed those sentiments.
"We had a good season last year, but we want to go farther this season," he said. "We want to get off to a fast start and build momentum."
The Mustangs did just that.
"We did some good things out on the courts today," Lake Central coach Eric Stark said. "But the problem was that we didn't play consistently. We couldn't put together a solid string of points and make a run. I was hoping we could grab the first set at both doubles spots, but it didn't work out for us today."
The Indians (1-1) were coming off of a 4-1 win over Wheeler earlier this week, but they couldn't carry the momentum forward.
"I thought we played well as a team, but came up short," said Chuckie Sayger, who played at No. 1 singles for the Indians. "Considering we were missing Tom, we held our own."
Sayger was referring to senior Thomas Lozanoski, the regular No. 1 for L.C. Lozanoski was ineligible because he hasn't participated in the IHSAA-mandated number of preseason practices.
Munster coach Steve Lopez was pleased with the overall results.
"Overall, we did OK," he said. "Our doubles is still a work in progress. We have a lot of mixing and matching that will take place in the next week. Plus I want to see our seniors step up and be more assertive. That was missing today."
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