INDIANAPOLIS — Columbus North has had an historical boys tennis season, but unfortunately for the third-ranked Bull Dogs, it all came to an end on Saturday morning against top-ranked Carmel in the state semifinals.
As the matches wore on, the Greyhounds showed why they’re the top team in the state by defeating North 4-1. The Bull Dogs entered the state semifinals unbeaten, which hadn’t happened in the history of the program.
“I’m very proud of this team,” North coach Kendal Hammel said. “We knew going into this match that Carmel was No. 1 for a reason. No one has come close to them at all. We knew there was a couple of spots where we could have opportunities. No matter what, it is great for the five seniors. They didn’t play any varsity tennis their freshman year, and little by little, they worked their way up into the varsity level. Getting to state last year was a good start, and then this year, getting to state, winning the conference and being undefeated, there is a lot to be proud of.”
The lone win for the Bull Dogs (22-1) and most competitive match came at No. 3 singles between Adam Saad and Carmel’s Eli Mercer. Saad claimed the first set 6-2, until Mercer came back to take the second set 6-1. In the deciding third set, Saad took control to win 6-3.
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The other matches went to the Greyhounds. At No. 1 singles, Presley Thienenman topped Nathan Lin 6-0, 6-0. At No. 2 singles, Ethan Zhang defeated Bhavey Jain 7-5, 6-1.
At No. 1 doubles, Uday Lomada and Jones McNamar downed Joey Zhao and Matthew Liu 6-2, 6-0. At No. 2 doubles, Broc Fletcher and John Zirkelbach defeated Eamon Ma and Will King 6-1, 6-1.
Saad was proud of his senior season.
“It was a really good accomplishment, and to be taken down by the best, it’s not nice, but it only takes the best to do it,” Saad said. “I’m really happy with this team, and I’m happy for my win today. Even though it didn’t matter in the end, I was still happy with it.”
Jain, another senior, agreed.
“I’m really happy we made it to this stage, and I’m very happy for Adam, who was able to win,” Jain said. “It is a little disappointing we didn’t get to move on, but I think it was a great experience overall, and while we may be a little sad right now, in a few days, maybe we can look back and be happy that we got this far.”
Hammel has to look to fill the voids left by Saad, Jain, Zhao, Ma and King.
“We have some good young guys coming up, no doubt about it, and we have some good guys on the JV,” Hammel said. “Hopefully, they will work and improve from this year into next year like these guys did this year. You can see body-wise and strength-wise that their shot selection is getting better and better, and that is what it takes to keep this program continuing on.”
