By RICHARD TORRES
For The Reporter
GREENCASTLE – The Carmel Greyhounds are back on top.
A season after losing hold of the IHSAA boys tennis team state trophy, the top-ranked Greyhounds officially turned the page last Saturday night to win the program’s 15th state championship overall and seventh in eight years.
The Greyhounds proved to be road warriors en route to their 11th perfect state-title season since 2003, traveling to Putnam County at DePauw University to finish the job.
The location was shifted from North Central High School to DePauw University’s indoor tennis facility due to rain and court conditions, but despite the change, the end result was a 3-2 victory over No. 2 Columbus North.
“That’s the ultimate goal. Obviously, we didn’t lose a match this year, and a lot of pressure came down on us because everyone wants to beat us, but going into this season that was the ultimate goal,” Carmel senior and No. 1 singles player Jonathan Yang said. “Winning state was the ultimate goal, and we got it.”
Victory required a complete team effort by Carmel, as first-time state finalist Columbus North (24-2) challenged and won at both No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles.
The Greyhounds countered by netting the first point behind a 6-0, 6-2 win by sophomore Wesley Worobel at No. 3 singles during the IHSAA’s 57th annual boys tennis team state finals.
Columbus North tied the match 1-1 with a 6-0, 6-1 victory by junior Hank Lin at No. 1 singles before the Greyhounds (27-0) grabbed the lead 2-1 with a win at No. 2 doubles.
Freshmen David Liu and Grant Mu won their match in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 to put the Greyhounds in position, and junior Rocky Li responded.
“Every match was tight in the beginning, but the longer the match went on, the more comfortable I felt. Near the end, I knew I couldn’t let my team down, so I finished point by point and I got it,” Li said. “I got the win.”
Last year, Li lost hold of the final point during Carmel’s regional loss to Harrison, 3-2, which served as a motivator leading up to Saturday’s final four round.
Li battled during the first set of his two singles match before he locked in and ended his match and Carmel’s mission with a 6-1 second-set win.
Yang greeted him as he walked off the court with a broad smile, as the team began to celebrate their seventh consecutive state title won with a flawless team record.
“This is awesome. This was our goal from the beginning of the season, so to see it come true is awesome,” Carmel senior doubles player Braedon McIntyre said. “It’s a good team. I’m glad we won it this year because it was a very important year, especially with it being my senior year.”
Unfortunately, McIntyre and his one doubles teammate, junior Michael Bao, couldn’t complete the sweep, losing their first match of the season against Columbus North, 6-3, 7-5, which eliminated the duo from individual state tournament competition.
For McIntyre and the Greyhounds, however, they had bigger goals to accomplish, and they did just that by knocking off No. 6 Culver Academies in the semifinal round, 4-1, before playing 30 minutes later for the title.
“Losing the streak that we had last year was definitely a harder pill to swallow, but I think all that did was spur us on to win it this year,” McIntyre said. “I think we knew more than ever we needed to win it again, and that’s what we set out to do from Day 1. And that’s what we did.”
Yang was named the Mental Attitude Award winner. He is the first Greyhound to earn the recognition since Radha Vishnubhotla in 2014-15.
“I’m just happy to be able to represent my school in this way,” Yang said. “Anyone of us on the team definitely deserves that award, and I’m just lucky to be able to represent Carmel.”
For Carmel head Coach Dan Brunette, who initially attended Carmel schools as a kid and lives in town, the state title marked his second for the Greyhounds.
His Greyhound girls team won the 2022-23 state championship in his first year at Carmel. Previously, Brunette coached at North Central where he led the Panthers boys team to three straight state championships from 2013-16.
“I’m very happy to bring another one back here and get the monkey off the back, too,” Brunette said.