Hounds take four of five flights
By RICHIE HALL
INDIANAPOLIS – The Carmel boys tennis team scored a dominating victory at the annual John Shirley Invitational, which took place Saturday, Aug. 30 at North Central’s Barbara Wynne Tennis Center.
Guerin Catholic’s David Cacchillo played on the Golden Eagles’ No. 1 doubles team. (Julie Brown)
The Greyhounds are ranked No. 1 in the Indiana Tennis Coaches Association poll and they played like it. Carmel won four of the five flights, while finishing as runner-up in the fifth flight in the Shirley Division. As a result, the ‘Hounds scored 55 out of a possible 60 points.
No. 1 singles Wesley Worobel, No. 3 singles Vishal Shankar and the doubles teams of No. 1 David Liu/Jude Sangar and No. 2 Rajeev Singh/Mahesh Duvvuri all finished as champions in their respective flights. No. 2 singles Andrew Kim made his way to the final match, where he was narrowly beaten by Homestead’s Ben Garrean in a 10-8 third-set super tiebreak.
Carmel coach Dan Brunette was pleased with the win, saying his players “came together as a team. They listened. So, I think we’re off to a good start. We’ll see what happens here in the next four to five weeks.”
Four other Hamilton County teams participated in the John Shirley Invitational, with three of them in the Shirley Division.
Third-ranked Hamilton Southeastern tied for second place with fourth-ranked Homestead; both schools scored 24 points. Both of the Royals’ doubles teams reached the championship match, with No. 1 Logan Foust/Landon Osswald taking Carmel to a third-set super tiebreak before falling 10-3. Ian Ransom and Max Weinberger played No. 2 doubles for Southeastern.
Guerin Catholic, ranked No. 7 finished fourth as a team, scoring 20 points. No. 3 singles Jake Husmann reached the championship match in his flight.
No. 21-ranked Fishers placed eighth, scoring five points. No. 3 singles Ezra Mitchell and No. 1 doubles Jack Hunley/Eshan Jain both finished sixth in their flights.
University played in the Buckley division and finished fourth with 26 points. The Trailblazers’ No. 2 doubles team of Tyler Davis/Daniel Boytsov won its flight without dropping a set in three matches.