By RICHIE HALL
The Mudsock tennis meet took place at Hamilton Southeastern on Wednesday, and it was a rewarding event for Fishers.
The Tigers beat the Royals 5-0, making it back-to-back Mudsock wins and giving the Fishers athletic program its first victory of the year. Southeastern won the girls golf event last week, so the schools are tied 1-1.
In Wednesday’s tennis meet, the Tigers won all five matches in straight sets. Fishers is now 2-0; the Tigers won their first meet a few days ago by beating Park Tudor, a school that is a perennial first-class tennis program. Fishers coach Dave Heffern coached there for several years, overseeing a program that produced several state champions.
The Tigers’ victories got the attention of the Indiana High School Tennis Coaches Association (IHSTeCA), which placed Fishers at No. 4 in its first set of rankings that were released earlier this week.
“Our first two matches have been rewarding, because of the kids, how hard they’ve worked,” said Heffern. “And to see it come to fruition where they got some good results after the hard work they’ve put in is rewarding.”
The Tigers’ lineup is full of experience. All three singles players – No. 1 Nic Knoderer, No. 2 Marcus Luke and No. 3 Will White – are seniors, and all three won their matches easily, dropping just 11 games total.
In the doubles matches, junior Sam Barrett and senior Drew Dixon played No. 1, while senior Peter Hallam and freshman Nate Simkins were the No. 2 team. Both teams won their matches 6-4, 6-4.
Heffern said his team worked hard over the summer, spending much of their time “on the aggressive game, coming to the net.” It’s the style commonly known as serve and volley, one that may have fallen out of favor in the professional game, but an old-school coach like Heffern understands its value.
“A lot of volleys, a lot of overheads,” said Heffern. “We serve and volley a couple times a week for doubles and for singles. We spend a lot of time on the things that are necessary to be a good doubles player. And it helps the singles players because we do approach shots two to three times a week where they have to come in after they hit the first shot. We give them a short ball and they have to come in and play the point out. The kids really love that drill.”
“All that stuff has really helped us become complete players with good variety,” said Heffern. “You still have to be able to be steady first, but once you’re steady then you can work your way into the net, you’re ahead of the game.”
Fishers beat Park Tudor 4-1 on Saturday. The Tigers conceded the No. 1 singles match to Park Tudor’s Aidan Harris, who Heffern said is “one of the top players in the state,” but won all the others.
“This is the start of my sixth year at Fishers and my summer program has come along to the point where I feel we’re going to be very competitive in the future,” said Heffern.
Next up for the Tigers is play at the Noblesville Invitational on Saturday.
As for the Royals, who are ranked No. 16 in the IHSTeCA’s first poll, they are now 1-2. Southeastern will play in the prestigious John Shirley Tournament, which takes place Saturday at North Central
“It was disappointing to not win a set tonight, but hopefully this is a match our players can learn from and will motivate us going forward,” said HSE coach Kirk Webber.
No. 1 singles: Nic Knoderer def. Aiden De Witt 6-2, 6-1
No. 2 singles: Marcus Luke def. Andrew Orme 6-1, 6-3
No. 3 singles: Will White def. Elias Yarling 6-1, 6-3
No. 1 doubles: Sam Barrett and Drew Dixon def. Matthew Parker and Matt Meyer 6-4, 6-4
No. 2 doubles: Peter Hallam and Nate Simkins def. Mahek Chougule and McGuire Wolfe 6-4, 6-4
Hamilton Heights lost a 4-1 match to Eastern on a windy Wednesday at the Huskies’ courts.
Ben Wolfgang won the lone match for Heights, 6-2, 6-4 at No. 3 singles.
Heights’ junior varsity team was victorious 3-1. Tanner Maynard won a singles match, while the doubles teams of No. 1 Liam Huss and Jake Martin and No. 2 Eli VanHaaren and Kal Colter were also winners.
“With it being the first time this season playing a match in the wind, there were many positives, but also many difficulties since we are such a young and inexperienced team,” said Huskies coach Justin Davis. “A lot of our players aren’t used to playing in the wind, so it was not only a battle against their opponent, but the wind itself too. The more you play in the wind, the more you can take advantage of using the wind, just as Eastern did. They played a smart match. I would have liked to see how both teams would have competed with little to no wind.
“As for the positives, all of our varsity and junior varsity players have improved so much since day one. I’m excited to keep seeing all the improvement we will have as the season moves along. On a side note, we have a very well-mannered and hard working team. I am very proud of the effort they give each day and how they are good sportsman, even when times get tough and it’s hard to do the right thing. I am lucky to be a part of what we have going here.”
Carmel beat Lawrence North 5-0 in a Tuesday dual meet.
The No. 1-ranked Greyhounds dropped only five games in the match, with No. 3 singles Will Brune and the No. 1 doubles team of Jonesy McNamar and Garrett Lloyd winning 6-0, 6-0. No. 1 singles Timmy Dixon won 6-0, 6-1, No. 2 singles Broc Fletcher was victorious 6-1, 6-2, and the No. 2 doubles team of Mitchell Mercer and Eli Mercer won 6-1, 6-0.
The Fishers boys tennis team won the Mudsock meet 5-0 over Hamilton Southeastern on Wednesday. The Tigers are 2-0 for the season and ranked fourth in the state. (Richie Hall)