THE REPORTER
Elyse Nelson made a comeback for the ages, and it resulted in another girls tennis state championship for Carmel.
Nelson was trailing 7-5, 3-0 to South Bend St. Joseph’s Ashi Amalnathan in the No. 2 singles match of the state championship meet, which took place at Center Grove last Saturday. But Nelson ran off six straight games to win the second set 6-3, then went on to win the third set 6-4. With that, the No. 2-ranked Greyhounds had clinched the state championship, 3-2 over the No. 1-ranked Indians.
“It was an incredible comeback,” said Carmel coach Dan Brunette, who won his first tennis state title with the ‘Hounds. Nelson led 5-2 in the third set, but Amalnathan “played two very good games,” said the coach. Nelson had a match point that Amalnathan saved, then Nelson was down break point twice before pulling out the match.
The other matches had already been decided. Carmel swept both doubles matches, with No. 1 Ali Griffin and Alexa Lewis winning 6-4, 6-1 over Dani Graham and Gracie Velasco, and No. 2 Marina Duncan and Alex Widjaja were victorious 6-2, 6-1 over Lily Mayfield and Maggie Nguyen.
The championship’s other singles match were also hard fought. At No. 1 SBSJ’s Molly Bellia beat Nora Perkins 7-5, 6-1, while Anni Amalnathan held off Grace Kim 6-2, 7-6 (3) to win at No. 3 singles.
The Greyhounds reached the championship by beating No. 4 Fishers 4-1 in the semifinals. All five of those matches were decided in straight sets. Nelson beat Izzy Mokra 6-1, 7-5 and Kim defeated Caroline Ober 7-5, 6-3 in the singles. As for the doubles, Griffin and Lewis beat Emma Beehler and Cassie Maurer 6-1, 6-2, while Duncan and Widjaja were 6-3, 6-4 winners over Maddie Barron and Meredith Ober.
Fishers’ Mischa Briggs won the No. 1 singles match, beating Perkins 6-2, 6-1. Briggs is unbeaten in the post-season and will advance to the individual state tournament, which takes place this weekend at Park Tudor. The Tigers completed their season 20-3.
Carmel’s Griffin and Lewis are also undefeated for the postseason and will play in the individual tournament as well.
The state title victory was the third in a row for the Greyhounds, and also moves them into first place in the record books for most team state championships. Carmel caught up with North Central’s long-standing record of 12 last year, and now sits on top with 13. The Greyhounds finished the season 25-2.