When the biggest matches of Columbus North’s boys tennis season were on the line, Kevin Lin came through in a big way.
Lin won his No. 1 singles matches against Bloomington South in the regional final and against Castle in the semistate. The Bull Dogs needed both of those wins from their lone varsity senior in 3-2 victories that allowed them to reach the state tournament.
"Kevin really improved from last year to this year," North coach Kendal Hammel said. "He worked at it in the offseason. He had some tough matches at the beginning of the season, but as the season progressed down into the tournament time, he really played well. He really was the key match."
For his efforts, Lin is this year’s The Republic Boys Tennis Player of the Year.
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Lin went 15-6 at No. 1 singles this season, playing against some of the state’s top competition. He was named second-team All-State by the Indiana High School Tennis Coaches Association.
"I thought I played pretty decently," Lin said. "This season, I had a little rough patch where I didn’t play as well as I wanted to, so I took the time after practice or after a match to work on my game and re-hone my skills."
This year was Lin’s second at No. 1 singles. He played No. 1 doubles each of his first two years of high school.
"My freshman and junior years, the records weren’t that great, but I kind of viewed them as steppingstones toward my next year," Lin said. "They were kind of like a baby step toward my main goal."
Lin thinks his foreheand got better this season, as well as his confidence in first serve. He spent a lot of time in the offseason working on his forehand and serve.
In the offseason, Lin also worked a lot on his conditioning and endurance.
"I definitely do think I had an improvement," Lin said. "I took my offseason practices really seriously this year. Last year was my transition from doubles to singles, so I felt like last year, my first few matches were a little rough. I was still trying to work out a playing style for singles. This year, I was a little more confident in the way I played."
Lin’s competitive tennis career likely is over, although he would like to play intramural tennis in college. The Academic All-State selection is applying to Indiana University, Purdue, Michigan and Stanford and is looking at studying medicine or engineering.
Lin’s performance this season led the Bull Dogs to their state tournament appearance since 2008.
"He progressed throughout his four years," Hammel said. "He would have loved playing doubles, but we needed him in singles. It was good for us to accomplish what we did because of what he did down the stretch. As the senior, as the captain and as the leader of the team, he did what we hoped and expected from someone right there."
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The Republic All-Area Boys Tennis team:
Kevin Lin, Columbus North: The senior went 15-6 at No. 1 singles.
Adam Saad, Columbus North: The junior went 18-4 and reached the state quarterfinals at No. 1 doubles.
Nathan Lin, Columbus North: The freshman went 18-4 and reached the state quarterfinals at No. 1 doubles.
Bhavey Jain, Columbus North: The junior went 13-8 at No. 2 singles.
Joey Zhao, Columbus North: The junior went 12-0 at No. 2 doubles and 5-3 at No. 3 singles.
Matthew Liu, Columbus North: The freshman went 12-0 at No. 2 doubles and 1-0 at No. 3 singles.
Eamon Ma, Columbus North: The junior went 7-4 at No. 3 singles and 3-3 at No. 2 doubles.
Aaron McCann, Brown County: The junior went 8-8 at No. 1 singles.
Aaron Mee, Hauser: The senior went 9-4 at No. 1 doubles and 3-0 at No. 3 singles.
Jacob Luken, Hauser: The senior went 10-6 at No. 1 doubles.
Honorable mention
Brown County: Josh Miller, Chase Watson. Columbus East: Jalen Pleak, JT Kuhlman. Columbus North: Will King, Atharva Kute. Edinburgh: Coltan Henderson. Hauser: Ethan Wallace. Jennings County: Kent Biehle, Weston Miller, Thomas Schuler.
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