By RICHIE HALL
The rain finally stopped long enough for everyone to play tennis on Friday.
Weather had pushed back the action at the three Hamilton County girls tennis sectional sites, but each one was able to get the semifinals completed on Friday. That means there will be simultaneous championship meets at all three sites at 10 a.m. this morning.
Noblesville hosts Sectional 56, with the Millers taking on No. 4-ranked Westfield. Sectional 31 host Fishers plays Pendleton Heights, with the No. 6 Tigers chasing a sixth consecutive championship. Second-ranked Carmel and No. 13 Guerin Catholic will play over at Zionsville for the Sectional 35 title.
Trending upward
The Shamrocks beat Hamilton Heights 5-0 in the first of the two Friday semifinals. Westfield dropped only one game among the five matches.
Duncan
Meanwhile, the Millers had to come back in three of their four victories before getting past Lapel 4-1 in the other semifinal. Noblesville’s only easy match was a 6-0, 6-0 shutout from No. 1 singles Bella Duncan, the lone senior in the Millers’ lineup.
Duncan improved to 13-1 after her victory. She will announce her college commitment plans after this season is finished.
“Bella is a fantastic talent and hard-working individual,” said Noblesville coach Chris Pyle. “She’s been an amazing, almost guaranteed point every single match for us.”
Sophomore Ayden Mullis dropped the first set of the No. 2 singles match 5-7 before winning the next two easily, 6-2, 6-2. At No. 3 singles, junior Josie Moorlag lost the first set 3-6 but toughed out the second set 6-4 and ran away with the third set 6-0.
The No. 1 doubles team of juniors Emma Bogan and Whitney Nelson also dropped the first set 3-6. The Millers team came back to win the second set 6-3 and then took the third set 6-4.
The sectional semifinal was the third team victory for Noblesville and possibly a microcosm of the season, one which Pyle admits has been full of “growing pains, ups and downs.” Duncan was the only returning varsity player for the Millers this season.
“There’ll be some matches where we’re really close, but we can’t find two more points, or where the lack of experience of playing in varsity two out of three-set matches shows,” said Pyle. “But tonight was kind of a testament to the girls learning from a lot of the experiences of the season.”
Pyle said the Millers put together a “mentally mature” match, learning from any first-set mistakes to turn things around in the next two sets.
“We’re trending upward and tonight was the first piece to really jump start, going upward, no matter what happens tomorrow,” said Pyle.
Fishers wins, HSE No. 1 doubles advances
Host Fishers beat Hamilton Southeastern 4-1 in a Friday semifinal. The Tigers will play Pendleton Heights, a 5-0 winner over Anderson, in today’s championship.
Fishers swept all three singles matches and the No. 2 doubles match, including 6-0, 6-0 shutouts from No. 1 singles Mischa Briggs and No. 3 singles Ally Briggs.
The Royals’ No. 1 doubles team of Naina Patwardhan and Ella Tappendorf came back to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. They will advance to the individual tournament, which begins next week.
Carmel, GC to meet in final, UHS’ Buttrick advances
Guerin Catholic and University played their semifinal at Zionsville on Thursday, with the Golden Eagles winning 4-1. The Trailblazers’ lone victory came at No. 1 singles, with Laurel Buttrick winning 6-1, 6-0. She improved to 17-3 and advances to the individual tournament.
The Greyhounds played No. 8 Zionsville in a Friday semifinal and won 5-0. Carmel will play for its 33rd consecutive sectional championship today.
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