For the third year in a row, the Carmel Greyhounds are the top dogs in doubles.
On Saturday, the Carmel duo of senior Srisanth Malpeddi and junior Jack Jentz claimed the Greyhounds’ third consecutive state doubles championship. The match took place at Carmel’s own Todd Witsken Tennis Center, as the Greyhounds hosted the IHSAA’s annual singles and doubles tournament.
The Carmel team swept through two matches in straight sets, beating the Floyd Central team of seniors Landon Hodges and Colin Jacobi 6-0, 6-1 in the semi-finals, then defeating the Munster team of junior Daniel Sroka and senior Charles Morton 6-4, 6-3.
The Greyhounds duo played close with the Mustangs in the first set before breaking the Munster team’s serve to win it 6-4. The two teams traded breaks early in the second set, then Malpeddi and Jentz broke to go up 5-3 and served the match out from there.
“We were more focused and our energy levels were a little low at the beginning,” said Malpeddi. “But then we started getting a little bit more energetic, and I think that worked out really well.”
“We had a lot of chances, and then some things didn’t go our way,” said Jentz. “But then we knew we were going to finally get one.”
Malpeddi and Jentz finished their season with a 31-0 record. It was also Malpeddi’s second state doubles title; he won last year with now-graduated Jones McNamar.
“Everybody playing high school tennis, they’re really good players. They got that far,” said Malpeddi. “I’m just thankful for the opportunity. It is a challenge, but I was able to work through it.”
This is the eighth time Carmel has won a doubles state championship. It’s also the third time since 2014 that a Greyhounds doubles team completed an unbeaten season. Matt Quammen and Radha Vishnubhotal were perfect in 2016, as were McNamar and Uday Lomada in 2019. Meanwhile, Malpeddi and Jentz matched the 31 wins that Carmel’s 2012 doubles state champions, Charlie Emhardt and Daniel Rodefeld, compiled that season.
In addition, Malpeddi became the ninth player to win two doubles state championships, and the third to do so with two different partners. Both Malpeddi and Jentz have played on two Carmel team state titles as well; Jentz played No. 3 singles last year before moving to doubles this season.
In the singles state tournament, West Lafayette senior Aidan William swept to victory, beating North Central sophomore Alex Antonopoulos 6-2, 6-4 in the championship. William frequently trains with the Carmel players, so they were cheering him on during the match while also cheering for Malpeddi and Jentz.