Two Hamilton County girls tennis teams won semi-state championships on Saturday. Both were historic in their own way.
Carmel extended its record total in semi-state titles with a 5-0 victory over Peru at the La Porte 1 semi-state. The No. 1-ranked Greyhounds claimed their 17th overall semi-state championship and their 12th in a row, which also extends a record. Carmel has won a semi-state title every year since 2009 (except last year when the tournament was canceled).
No. 1 singles Emma Brune came back after dropping the first 7-5 to win the next two sets 6-0, 6-0. In the other singles matches, No. 2 Leila Antony and No. 3 Nora Perkins got 6-0, 6-0 victories. No. 1 doubles Hallie Reeves and Alexa Lewis won 6-0, 6-2 and No. 2 doubles Katelyn Conley and Anjali Natarajan were 6-0, 6-1 winners.
Meanwhile, Fishers traveled up to Homestead and came home as a first-time semi-state champion. The No. 9-ranked Tigers beat No. 12 Delta 4-1 to claim the Homestead 1 title.
Fishers swept all three singles matches, with No. 1 Lucy Loy winning 6-0, 6-3; No. 2 Isabelle Mokra getting a 7-6, 6-1 victory and No. 3 Caroline Ober winning a tough one, 6-4, 6-7, 10-6, the last set a super tiebreak. No. 2 doubles Madelyn Barron and Meredith Ober won 6-2, 6-3.
Both teams now advance to the state quarter-finals, which take place at noon Friday. Carmel travels to Center Grove to take on No. 3 Park Tudor in one of the two quarter-finals taking place there. The other quarter-final features No. 6 Homestead taking on Sullivan, another first time semi-state champion.
Fishers will play at Carmel’s Todd Witsken Tennis Center on Friday, playing No. 10 Jasper in a quarter-final match. The other quarter-final at Carmel will be contested between No. 4 Evansville Memorial and No. 1 South Bend St. Joseph.
Quarter-final winners advance to the semi-finals, which take place at 10 a.m. Saturday (June 5) at North Central. The championship match also takes place that day at North Central, with a 2 p.m. start.
HSE DOUBLES TEAM IN REGIONAL
The Hamilton Southeastern doubles team of Misha Bukkasagaram and Emily Orme will play in the individual regional this weekend.
Bukkasagaram and Orme beat Mount Vernon 6-1, 6-0 earlier in the week to win the individual sectional. The team will play at the Fishers regional on Saturday.