By RICHIE HALL
For the second year in a row, the Noblesville boys tennis team made it to the state finals.
The Millers were again one of the final eight teams left standing in Indiana when the state quarterfinals began last Friday at North Central’s Barbara Wynne Tennis Center. Noblesville’s season came to an end in the quarters, as it lost to Jasper, the same result as the year before.
But there was tangible progress made by the Millers at the state meet. In 2023, Noblesville was swept by the Wildcats 5-0. This season, the Millers picked up a match victory, a satisfying win for senior Ethan Feliciano at No. 1 singles. Noblesville Chris Pyle said the other matches were also competitive.
“Overall, we were much more competitive than last year,” said Pyle. “We didn’t stick out like a sore thumb. This year, four of the five courts, you can say that we were very competitive, and we ended up winning a match, which is awesome.”
Feliciano beat Jasper’s Joel Levy 6-2, 6-4, making history as the first Millers player to win a match at the state tournament. After his victory, Feliciano said that was the best he ever played and his coaches agreed.
“He had the hardest job on the team, and that’s to be the best player because you’re going against everybody’s best,” said Pyle. “Every team has a good 1 singles, so you have no nights off at that position. For a couple weeks, he was not playing his best. Over the past week, we had really sat down with him and we came up with a plan that suited his strengths, and he executed it to a tee against Jasper.”
In the other matches, No. 2 singles Zane Panning lost 6-2, 6-4 and No. 3 singles Max Habel dropped a tough match 6-4, 6-7 (3), 10-7, with the last set a 10-point super tiebreak. Both are seniors, along with Feliciano. Despite the tough competition, Feliciano finished the season with 10 wins. Panning and Habel each collected 18 wins.
Also graduating is Jack Brenneman, who played No. 1 doubles with junior Dane Campbell. They fell to Jasper’s Eli Flick and Caleb Schnarr 7-5, 6-3; the Wildcats duo will play in the individual state tournament that begins today at Park Tudor.
The Millers’ No. 2 doubles team were juniors Parker Stallings and Dustin Turpin. They lost 6-2, 6-3 but will return next season along with Campbell.
“I’m really excited to see how Dane, Parker and Dustin fit into the equation (next season),” said Pyle. “All three of them can play singles, all three of them can play doubles. I think we’ll be a versatile team again.”
Now that the Millers have established a standard, Pyle wants to make sure that success becomes the norm at Noblesville. The coach said he thinks the Millers are “at a point where we’re going to be a pretty good team every year. If we’re a top 20 team every year, I’ll be happy.”
“We’re just going to reload players,” said Pyle. The coach said there are players coming in every year playing at a high level that just need to get some experience on junior varsity before heading up to varsity. For example, Noblesville’s No. 2 and No. 3 JV singles players were freshmen, and Pyle said he was “really excited about their commitment” during the off-season.
“Even our middle school teams come out and see us play and they’re really impressed with the way the team is going,” said Pyle. “Our summer camps are getting bigger every year. Obviously our facility really helps with kids wanting to play here.”
“For us, there’s no rebuilding phase anymore for Noblesville,” said Pyle. “We’re going to reload and we’re going to keep fighting for another sectional title every single year.”
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