ELKHART – Experience won out as Concord entertained NorthWood in the boys’  tennis league opener for both teams Thursday night.

The Minutemen, boasting singles strength, topped the Panthers by a 4-1 count in Northern Lakes Conference play at Concord Junior High School.

The match pitted a pair of teams who do not have a “true” homecourt this fall due to construction projects at both squad’s courts. The Panthers are playing all of their matches on the road, while Concord is hoping to have its revamped facility ready in September.

The Minutemen, who went 14-5 and won both NLC and sectional championships in 2016, showcased a potent singles lineup to move to 3-0 on the season. Coach Todd Denton’s team returns four varsity regulars from a year ago when the Minutemen lost to an unbeaten Fairfield team in a regional final.

NorthWood, which had a freshman and two sophomores at the three singles spots Thursday, drops to 2-2.

“I’m not disappointed with how we played tonight at all,” said NorthWood coach Tif Schwartz, whose team finished 6-11 a year ago. “We knew coming in that this was going to be a very tough match. Overall, I thought we played well.

“We knew that Concord has a strong singles group. We’re young still and getting better. We wanted to come in and get experience and grow from that.”

“I thought that we started well tonight and came out fired up. We need to work on getting down on ourselves though. We need to make sure that we stay positive and aggressive and pick each other up.”

Senior Will Boyer set the tone for the Minutemen. The senior ace, boasting a huge serve and plenty of potent winners from his fabulous forehand, downed sophomore Wes Troyer 6-2, 6-1 at No. 1 singles in 35 minutes. Boyer is in his fourth season at No. 1 singles for Concord and has led his team or been tied for the most wins each of his previous three seasons.

“I liked what I saw and Wes played great,” Schwartz noted. “Will is just a great player for them.”

The Panthers showed plenty of fight at both No. 2 and 3 singles. Freshman Ben Vincent lost 6-0 at No. 2 in the opening set to junior Nate Slabach before dropping the second set 7-6 (8-6) in a match that took 1:40. Junior Freddy Buckingham of the Minutemen topped sophomore Jack Wysong 6-0 at No. 3 in the first set before holding on for a 7-5 win in the second set.

“Both Ben and Jack are fighters,” said Schwartz. “They have energy, they listen well and were able to pick themselves up tonight and really come back strong in their second sets.”

The Concord No. 2 doubles duo of juniors Drew McDougle and Grant Lucchese dropped their opening set 6-1 to senior Trevor Kotz and junior Trajan Schwartz before regrouping to win the match 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.

NorthWood collected its point on the No. 1 doubles court. The team of seniors Jared Hoffman and Brant Mast outlasted sophomore Travis Hermon and junior Cal Whitaker 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 in a match that took 1:50 to complete.

“I thought our No. 1 doubles team played well and adjusted well,” Schwartz remarked. “Both of them are experienced. They picked each other up well tonight.”

NorthWood was not at full strength Thursday night. Sophomore Landon Holland, the Panthers’ No. 2 singles player, missed his second straight match due to illness.

Concord won the junior varsity match, which was played on Wednesday night, 7-2. Ben Vincent and Dawson Bley won at No. 1 and 2 singles respectively for NorthWood.

NorthWood plays CMA Friday. Concord plays at Fairfield Tuesday.