Royals, ‘Hounds tennis advance to regional finals

The Hamilton Southeastern girls tennis team advanced to the regional championship match with a 5-0 win over Lawrence North in Tuesday’s semi-finals at North Central’s Barbara Wynne Tennis Center.
The No. 8-ranked Royals won all five matches in straight sets. That included a 6-0, 6-0 victory for Tea Vrkic at No. 3 singles.
“Tea is really starting to find her groove since coming back from her injury,” said HSE coach Kirk Webber. “She’s playing very smart tennis and constructing some great points.”
No. 1 singles Audrey De Witt and No. 2 singles Ashley Spirrison both had 10 winners in their matches, while Vrkic made 14 winners, seven of them at the net. The No. 2 doubles team of Nikki Hite and Jillian Pence won 6-3, 7-6, with the tiebreaker going to 7-3. Both players had eight volley winners in the match.
“I think our experience in our 10 previous tiebreakers might have helped us through this one,” said Webber.
Jeorgia Templin and Taylor Cleary easily won at No. 1 doubles.
Southeastern is now 15-4 and will play No. 2 Cathedral at 4:30 p.m. today for the regional title.

Southeastern 5, Lawrence North 0
No. 1 singles: Audrey De Witt def. Shaw 6-1, 6-1
No. 2 singles: Ashley Spirrison def. Satz 6-0, 6-1
No. 3 singles: Tea Vrkic def. Freiji 6-0, 6-0
No. 1 doubles: Jeorgia Templin and Taylor Cleary def. Griffin and Mouser 6-1, 6-0
No. 2 doubles: Nikki Hite and Jillian Pence def. Rowland and Manner 6-3, 7-6 (3)

Up at Kokomo, No. 1-ranked Carmel advanced to the regional championship with a 5-0 win over Harrison.
The Greyhounds will play Northwestern for the title at 4:30 p.m. today.