Chase Butler hits a shot for Triton during 1 singles play in a meet at Tippecanoe Valley Tuesday. (Photos by James Costello)

AKRON — Triton tennis coach Al Peckham has often watched longtime doubles player Chase Butler at practice and thought he’d make a pretty good singles player, too.

Butler played his first competitive singles match in a meet at Tippecanoe Valley Tuesday night, and the Trojan senior proved his coach right. Butler collected a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Valley’s Payton Mills, and Triton earned a 5-0 win over the host Vikings on a sweltering evening where actual temperatures reached up into the 90s.

“When you see him practice at singles sometimes you think ‘Boy, he’d be a pretty good singles player.’ But he loves doubles so much,” explained Peckham of Butler. “I let him have a chance to play singles, and it looked like he did alright.”

With only three players in Valley’s lineup, Peckham decided to shuffle his players around some Tuesday, and only the Trojans’ three seniors played in Akron. Butler’s usual 1 doubles partner Carter Kuntz moved to 2 singles, where he claimed a win over Connor Frentzel when the latter retired in the brutal heat, down a set and trailing 5-0 in the second set. The evening’s most competitive match came at 3 singles, where Trevor Miller outlasted Ethan Yates 6-4, 6-3.

Valley’s Ethan Yates watches his shot during 3 singles play Tuesday.

“Trevor, he’s one of the guys that came all summer, worked the hardest, so I was glad to see he got the win because he’s the guy that really put in the most time of anybody,” Peckham said.

“Ethan, that was the best match he played all year. He’s come a long way,” said Valley coach Nick Kindig. “He was very competitive tonight in this heat. It was nice to see him definitely take a step forward tonight.”

Ditto the rest of his lineup, actually, said Kindig.

“Honestly as a team that’s probably the best that we’ve played all year, from day one to now, all three guys major improvement. So if we can keep making those kinds of strides, it’ll be a lot better towards the end of the season,” he said.

With only three players in the lineup, it’s been a challenging season for Valley’s boys and head coach Kindig, but it’s one they’ve managed as well as possible. The short-handed Vikings even picked up a 3-0 win over LaVille last week.

“It’s a challenge. I think they might feel a little more pressure because all three guys have to win. I kind of tell them tennis is an individual sport, but it’s also a team sport. It kind of goes back to you’re just individuals now,” Kindig explained.

“It’s obviously not ideal, but it’s just the way it is. They’re still out there having fun, they’re still enjoying it, and we’re still competing so that’s all I can ask of them.”

Triton moves a notch under .500 at 4-5. Triton will play Lapel, Jimtown and Manchester at the Jimtown Invitational Saturday before resuming Hoosier North Athletic Conference play next week with LaVille Tuesday and North Judson Thursday.

“We’re doing alright. We’re having a good season. Just cut down a couple errors, and we could be a lot better,” Peckham said.

Valley plays at Lewis Cass Thursday.

Trevor Miller backhands a shot at Valley.