By RICHIE HALL
INDIANAPOLIS – The IHSAA’s individual state tournament began Friday at Park Tudor, and Hamilton Southeastern’s No. 1 doubles team provided some of the excitement in the afternoon’s quarter-final round.
The Royals team of seniors Misha Bukkasagaram and Emily Orme won its quarter-final, holding off a tough challenge from Plymouth juniors Taylor Delp and Ellie Jones, 6-2, 7-6 (5). Bukkasagaram and Orme thus advanced to the semi-finals, which will be played this morning at 10 a.m. at Park Tudor.
Southeastern got off to a quick start in the first set, and held off a challenge from Delp and Jones, who began playing better as the set went on. Bukkasagaram continued to hit strong volley winners throughout the set. Orme was also doing her part, and in fact made the winning shot on set point with a low slice winner.
“We practice a lot on volleys,” said Orme. “Before these matches, we have what we call the peg drill, which is basically volley battles between us and our best players on the team.”
The second set was back and forth all the way through. The Pilgrims won a long first game on their serve, then the Royals held serve at 15 for 1-all. Southeastern then broke serve for a 2-1 lead, but Plymouth broke back.
That led to a sequence of five consecutive service breaks, the fifth of which gave the Royals a 4-3 lead. Orme hit a return winner on game point to get HSE ahead once again. Orme would later hit a service winner on a second serve during the next game, which saw Southeastern hold to go up 5-3.
An Orme volley gave the Royals match point at 30-40, but the Pilgrims got three straight points to hold at 5-4, then broke for 5-all. Plymouth then held for 6-5 and had two set points in the next game, but the Royals saved them both and held for 6-all.
That sent the set into a tiebreak. Southeastern never trailed in the tiebreak, with Bukkasagaram hitting a winner for the first point, then Orme delivering a winner at the net for a 2-0 lead. The Pilgrims came back to tie at 2-2, then an ace by Orme started a run to get the Royals back up 4-2.
Plymouth came back again, tying the score at 4-4. The teams traded points for 5-5, but Southeastern got the next two points to close out the match.
While the Royals were winning their match, the other quarter-final match was going on right next to them. That one was even closer, with Covington seniors Karsyn Engle and Emma Taylor edging out Evansville Mater Dei seniors Kelly Blair and Chrissy Marx 4-6, 6-1, 7-5. Throughout both matches there was a lot of cheering and shouting going on, and everyone could hear the noise from the four singles matches that were taking place around the Park Tudor complex.
“I think we ignored the crowd and just held our confidence up,” said Orme. “I think that’s what got us through.”
“And I think we just got back to letting it feel like it’s a practice,” said Bukkasagaram. “Our coach tells us that all the time, and so when we do that, I feel like we’re more confident and just do a better job.”
Bukkasagaram noted that sometimes the crowd noise can be used to a player’s advantage.
“I also think sometimes it honestly helps, because it makes you feel more like that game mode,” said Bukkasagaram. “I think that’s really something that helps me build up my anticipation for the next point and all of that.”
The Royals will take on the South Bend St. Joseph team of sophomore Ashi Amalnathan and freshman Anni Amalnathan in this morning’s semi-finals. The St. Joseph team received a bye into the semi-finals. Engle and Taylor will play the Floyd Central squad of junior Amelia Meunier and sophomore Elizabeth Banet.
The semi-final winners will play for the state championship at 2 p.m.