BLOOMINGTON — No. 13 Columbus North faced a familiar opponent in Conference Indiana foe and No. 25 Bloomington South in the boys tennis regional final on Wednesday.
Unlike the match they had earlier in this season, this one came down to the very end.
At No. 3 singles, North’s Joseph Kloepfer lost the first set 7-6 (0), but won the second set 6-3 and then prevailed in the third set 7-5 to help lift North to a 3-2 victory to capture its third straight regional crown.
The Bull Dogs (14-1) will play Jeffersonville in the Jasper semistate on Saturday.
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Kloepfer said one of the biggest things that helped him in the match was by having the “Mamba Mentality” that was famed by late NBA legend Kobe Bryant.
“I watched Kobe Bryant play, and all I was thinking about was, What would Kobe do?’” Kloepfer said. “When I was hitting, I was not missing. I told myself that I’m not missing, and he’s going to have to keep up with me all night. He’s going to have to be here until 2 a.m. if he wants to win this match, and I was willing to stay here until 2 a.m.”
North coach Kendal Hammel was proud of Kloepfer rising to the occasion in a match that lasted nearly three hours and 45 minutes.
“The kid played great. He played really well,” Hammel said. “They had a couple of match points with the situation, but we kept trying to remind Joseph, ‘Don’t give up. Don’t give up.’ Just never quit and hang in there and keep those feet moving, and good things will happen. When those points went our way, he just believed in himself no matter what the score was. It was great for him as a senior and captain to pull that match off.”
Kloepfer trailed 3-0 in the third set, and also fended off a potential match point to achieve the victory.
“It really feels great since I’m a senior that we get to be a part of this,” Kloepfer said. “It’s just crazy, but all glory to God. Thank you for the night. It’s been crazy.”
At No. 1 singles, Nathan Lin downed Michael Asplund 6-2, 6-0 to give the Bull Dogs an early 1-0 lead in the match. The match was tied when Bloomington South’s Marcel Borhi and Ethan Uhls topped Amrit Kar and Anvay Atram 6-3, 6-1. North regained the lead when Luke Enneking and Eric Stavnheim downed Sahli Desai and John Beggs 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 doubles.
The other match at No. 2 singles was much closer. The Bull Dogs’ Matthew Liu trailed a set and trailed 5-2 in the second set. He tied the set at 5-5 before Chris Lian prevailed to tie the match 2-2 with a 6-1, 7-5 victory, setting up the thrilling finish at No. 3 singles.
