University’s Laurel Buttrick advances in individual sectional tournament
By RICHIE HALL
FISHERS – The Fishers Tigers are girls tennis regional champions once again.
Fishers, the No. 4-ranked team in the state, held off No. 13 North Central 3-2 on Wednesday to win the regional title, which the Tigers hosted for the first time. It’s the third consecutive regional title for Fishers.
The Tigers got off to a quick start with an easy victory from Mischa Briggs, who won at No. 1 singles 6-0, 6-1. No. 2 doubles Meredith Ober and Madelyn Barron got Fishers a second point with a 6-2, 6-1 win.
In the other three matches, the Panthers and the Tigers split sets. No. 3 singles Caroline Ober won the first set 6-0, but then lost the second set 6-3 to NC’s Carrie Grissom. But Ober regrouped and cruised through the third set 6-0 to clinch the regional title for Fishers.
“In the third set, I really just started to focus on the ball,” said Ober. “I was getting a little too distracted by other things, so I just focused in the third set.”
One thing that helped Ober out was looking at her racquet strings in between points. “It helps to center me, and I can just focus and re-center myself,” she said.
North Central took the other two matches in close victories. At No. 2 singles, the Tigers’ Izzy Mokra and the Panthers’ Brooke Ratcliff split 6-2 sets, with Mokra winning the first set and Ratcliff leveling the match. The players returned from their 10-minute break just as the No. 3 singles match concluded, so they played a third-set super tiebreak to decide their match. It was a close contest before Ratcliff won 10-8.
At No. 1 doubles, Cassie Maurer and Emma Beehler won the first set 6-2 before North Central’s Rachel Grissom and Caroline Robinson took the second set 6-2. The Panthers team eventually won the third set 6-4.
The North Central doubles victory affected the individual sectional tournament, which is also taking place this week at Fishers. Noblesville’s No. 1 doubles team of Lina Hamashuk and Cami Crist were also in action on Wednesday, and they sailed past New Palestine’s Bethany Blachly and Josephine Harvey 6-1, 6-0. The Millers’ team will take on the Panthers’ team at 4:45 p.m. today to determine the individual sectional champion.
The Tigers will take on NorthWood Saturday at noon at the Homestead semi-state, with the winner qualifying for next weekend’s IHSAA state finals.
Carmel streak continues
Carmel continued its regional streak on Wednesday with a 4-1 victory over No. 18 Harrison to win the Kokomo regional.
The No. 2-ranked Greyhounds have now won 17 straight regional championships, which extends a state record for most consecutive regionals won. Overall, Carmel has 23 regional titles.
The ‘Hounds travel to Culver Academies on Saturday, where they will play the host Eagles for that semi-state title. The match begins at noon, and the winner goes to the state finals.
UHS’ Buttrick advances
Also at Kokomo, University’s Laurel Buttrick advanced in the individual sectional tournament with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Logansport’s Lydia Goad on Tuesday. Buttrick is 16-2 for the season.