Presley Thieneman picked up another state championship for the Carmel tennis program on Saturday.
The junior cruised to victory in the boys singles state tournament, which took place at Park Tudor. Thieneman beat Evansville Mater Dei senior Aaron Thompson 6-1, 6-1 in the morning semi-finals, then took care of Park Tudor senior Aidan Harris 6-0, 6-3 in the windy afternoon championship.
“I played really well,” said Thieneman. “I moved my feet. I had a lot of forehands. I didn’t really give Aidan anything. I stepped into the court well and I think I played the best I could have.”
Thieneman became the fifth Carmel player to win the singles state title, and his victory puts him in impressive company. The Greyhounds’ other state winners were Todd Witsken (1980), Rick Witsken (1987-88), Rajeev Ram (1999) and Patrick Fletchall (2016-17). Thieneman finished the season 21-1.
“We worked really hard this season and I thought I deserved to win today,” said Thieneman. “I’ve wanted to win this since I was real young, so it feels amazing to win this.”
Carmel’s senior doubles team of Timmy Dixon and Garrett Lloyd advanced to the championship match by beating Munster seniors Zach Schmidt and Frank Wolf 6-4, 6-1 in the semi-finals. In the final, the Greyhounds played Leo seniors Eli Herran and Isaac Steiner.
Dixon and Lloyd won the first set 7-5, but Herran and Steiner won the next two sets 6-2, 6-3 to win the doubles title. Both teams were undefeated going into the final; the Leo team finished the season 19-0 while Dixon and Lloyd finished 22-1. This marked the fifth time in nine years that a Carmel team played in the doubles title match.
The Carmel boys tennis team had both its singles and doubles team play in the individual state tournament Saturday at Park Tudor. Junior Presley Thieneman won the singles tournament while the senior team of Garrett Lloyd and Timmy Dixon reached the final of the doubles tournament.
Picutred: Carmel coach Bryan Hanan, Lloyd, Thieneman, Dixon, assistant coach Josh Farley. (Richie Hall)