By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com
When Dave Heffern took over the head coaching position for the Fishers High School tennis teams, he said, “Well, it’s probably a 10-year program to try to get it to the top.”
Heffern just finished his ninth year as coach of the Tigers’ boys and girls teams. Fishers’ girls nearly made it to the top this season: On June 4, the Tigers played in the state championship match.
Fishers lost to Carmel 5-0, but that loss certainly didn’t diminish the Tigers’ season. In fact, the appearance of Fishers in the final two was significant, as it made the Tigers the first Hamilton County team besides the Greyhounds to play in the championship match.
The only team that we lost to all year was Carmel,” said Heffern. “We lost to them in the regular season, we lost to them in the state championship match. We had a great season. We won a few tight matches, even though we had some injuries and everything. A great bunch of kids, fun to work with.”
Heffern was speaking on June 10 at the individual singles and doubles tournament at Park Tudor, a place with which he is very familiar. Prior to coming to Fishers, Heffern was the Panthers’ tennis coach, guiding them to remarkable heights between 1995 and 2013. In the team tournament, Park Tudor won six boys state titles and six girls state titles during Heffern’s tenure.
In the individual tournament, the Panthers claimed three boys doubles and a singles champion, while the girls won six singles titles, including four in a row from Katie Martzolf from 1998-2001. The Park Tudor girls scored a rare triple crown – winning the team, singles and doubles championships – in 1998. Brookley Crews and Brooke Sagalowsky won the doubles title that year.
After leaving Park Tudor, Heffern was immediately hired at Fishers. He said that when he arrived at the Tigers’ program, the goal was to get the tennis program consistently ranked in the top 10. Fishers continued to improve over the next few years, with the boys team winning sectionals in 2017 and 2018.
“And last fall, the boys team was ranked fifth or sixth at the end of the year and I thought we were probably the fourth-best team in the state,” said Heffern. “Unfortunately for us, HSE was the third best team.” Hamilton Southeastern won its third straight sectional last fall.
As for the girls, Fishers made its way to the state finals in 2021, winning its first sectional title since 2012, then triumphing at the regional and semi-state for the first time. The Tigers defended all of those championships this season, including a tough sectional where they beat No. 15 Noblesville and No. 10 Southeastern.
“It’s been exciting,” said Heffern. “It’s something I’ve expected because we have a nice summer program going and the kids seem more interested in tennis out in Fishers now.”
Heffern had come to Park Tudor after spending the morning at his summer program, and he said there were 30 players in the younger group, and 34 more in the high school group.
“It’s a good opportunity out at Fishers,” he said.
The Tigers also have a great opportunity to do well again next season, as everyone that played varsity for this year’s team is back. Fishers had a freshman – Mischa Briggs, playing at No. 1 singles, while junior Izzy Mokra played No. 2 singles. Everyone else is a sophomore: No. 3 singles Caroline Ober, No. 1 doubles Cassie Maurer and Emma Beehler and No. 2 doubles Madelyn Barron and Meredith Ober.
“Hopefully, the success they had this year will make them work hard to get back to that point and to finish next year, to win the whole thing,” said Heffern. “Anytime that you’re so close that it inspires you to want to take that last step, and I’m hoping that’s what all the girls do.”
Next year will be the 10th year for Heffern, but he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He told his assistant coach Matthew Foley that he would coach until Foley’s daughter graduates.
“She’s going to be an eighth-grader,” said Heffern. “I got five more years anyway.”
“I figure I’ll be around 80 when I finish, when I give it up,” said Heffern. “But I’m still feeling as good as I feel now. I love this. Here I am showing up to cheer on HSE because I’ve coached those girls privately and in clinics since they were 10 or 11 years old.”
Heffern was there to cheer on Southeastern’s Misha Bukkasagaram and Emily Orme, who were playing in the doubles tournament and eventually reached the semi-finals.
“And I see all sorts of kids here that I’ve worked with over the years,” said Heffern. “I really enjoy this.”