By RICHIE HALL
INDIANAPOLIS – Another season, another state championship for the Carmel boys tennis team.
It may seem a little routine for the Greyhounds to win every year, but there was nothing routine about the occasion, or the way that Carmel won its fifth consecutive state title on Saturday. The ‘Hounds held off their great rival North Central 3-2 at the Panthers’ home base, the Barbara Wynne Tennis Center – a place where North Central has been making its own history for decades.
Now the Greyhounds have their own piece of history as well. Carmel’s sensational run of five state titles matches the Panthers’ five in a row that they won between 1982 and 1986. Moreover, the Greyhounds completed their fifth consecutive undefeated season by going 23-0 this year. Over the past five years, Carmel’s record is an astonishing 106-0.
“This is a goal that we had at the beginning of the year,” said Greyhounds coach Bryan Hanan. “We knew it was going to tie a state record. We don’t want to let other guys that played before and been a part of this down. Talked to one today and he’s like ‘Keep it going.’ We wanted this. We know it’s only been done once in state history.”
North Central made Carmel work to get that five-peat. The Greyhounds quickly went up 2-0 in the final by sweeping both doubles matches. The No. 1 team of junior Srisanth Malpeddi and senior Jones McNamar won 6-1, 6-0 and No. 2 team of seniors Ethan Eckhart and Corbin King were victorious 6-2, 6-1.
The singles matches were tense. The Panthers got their first point at No. 3 singles, when Maurquis Willingham beat Jack Jentz 6-2, 6-4 in a battle of sophomores. Meanwhile, the No. 2 match between Carmel junior Eli Mercer and NC freshman Alex Antonopolous went into a third set, while the No. 1 match saw Panthers senior Ajay Mahenthiran take the first set from ‘Hounds junior Broc Fletcher 6-4.
Fletcher took a 4-1 lead in the second set before Mahenthiran came back to win 7-5. That tied the match at 2-2. But Mercer took control of the third set in his match, and finally won 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. Antonopoulos saved three match points before Mercer converted the fourth one, starting a Carmel celebration.
“I was just trying to work hard for every point,” said Mercer, who was undefeated for the year at 27-0. “I just try to keep the ball in and just be consistent and just do what my coach says. I was really tense the second set, so I tried to just hit through the ball more. In the end, it helped.”
Carmel advanced to the championship match with a 5-0 semi-final win over Jasper Saturday morning. The ‘Hounds won every match in straight sets. In singles, Fletcher was victorious 6-0, 6-4, Mercer won 6-2, 6-4 and Jentz was a 6-0, 6-1 winner. In doubles, Malpeddi and McNamara cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 victory and Eckhart and King were 6-0, 6-1 winners.
In Friday’s quarter-finals, Carmel swept past Homestead 5-0. Fletcher scored a 6-0, 6-0 shutout at No. 1 singles, with Mercer winning 6-2, 6-0 and Jentz getting a 6-0, 6-1 victory. Malpeddi and McNamar won 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1 doubles, while Eckhart and King sailed to a 6-2, 6-1 win.
Malpeddi and McNamar were undefeated for the tournament, which means they will advance to next weekend’s individual state doubles tournament. The duo will receive the top seed in the tournament due to their being from the state championship team.
METZGER, SPIRRISON/SCHNEIDER WIN REGIONALS
The individual tournament played the regional round on Saturday, and Hamilton County had two champions.
Up at La Porte, Guerin Catholic senior Cole Metzger won the singles title there. Metzger won by identical scores of 6-0, 6-1 in both of his matches, beating Lake Central freshman Mateusz Wlodarczyk in the semi-finals and Chesterton sophomore Fabio Haiduc in the final match.
At Kokomo, the Hamilton Southeastern doubles team of junior Andrew Spirrison and sophomore Paul Schneider won that regional. The Royals duo beat Huntington North seniors Noah Zahn and Thomas Schweller 7-5, 6-2 in the semi-finals, then defeated Mississinewa juniors Ryan Scott and Riley Fuqua 6-0, 6-3 in the championship.
Metzger and Spirrison/Schneider will play at the individual state tournament beginning Friday at North Central. Pairings will be determined in the next couple of days.
Noblesville junior Noah Bushong also played at the Kokomo regional, falling to Fort Wayne Canterbury sophomore Kush Anand 6-4, 6-2.
The Westfield doubles team of junior Brett Barnes and senior Christian Emigh competed up at La Porte. The Shamrocks beat the Kankakee Valley team of sophomore Hayden Dase and senior Braden Misch 6-0, 6-0 in the semi-finals before dropping a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 match to Culver Academies seniors Nathaniel Posner and Paul Wilson in the final.