By RICHIE HALL
INDIANAPOLIS – Two Hamilton County doubles teams will face off this morning with a chance to play for a state championship on the line.
The Carmel team of senior Michael Bao and sophomore Grant Mu will take on the Hamilton Southeastern team of senior Tyler Rich and Landon Osswald at 10 a.m. this morning in the semifinals of the boys tennis individual state doubles finals at Park Tudor. Both teams advanced to the semis with quarterfinal wins Friday afternoon at the Panthers’ tennis facility.
Bao and Mu cruised past Bloomington South juniors Connor Couch and Joshua Sang 6-1, 6-0. The duo is 17-3 for the season.
“Came out a little shy, but loosened up probably five games in, and from there they were in a rhythm,” said Greyhounds coach Dan Brunette. “A lot of combination points, high serve percentage, some pretty tricky plays. And that shows you the confidence the two of them have. They’ve played a lot of matches together. We had a lot of practices last two weeks.”
Rich and Osswald breezed to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Western juniors Aidan Mawbey and Kaleb York, improving their record to 21-7.
“I think they played great,” said Royals coach Doug Gernert. “They had a rough start to the season, but they’ve been getting better every time and I think we’re starting to peak right at the right time. It’s actually a perfect time for this, to come to the state finals and be playing some of your best tennis and playing together as well.”
The other semifinal features Jasper seniors Caleb Schnarr and Eli Flick (27-1) taking on Brownsburg sophomores Ethan Cougill and Skyler Rose (24-5). The Jasper team received a bye into the semifinals, while the Bulldogs won in straight sets over the Peru team of senior Gavin Eldridge and junior Jackson Boswell 7-5, 6-4.
Today’s semifinal winners will play for the state championship at 2 p.m. at Park Tudor.