Second-ranked Columbus North came into its boys tennis sectional this week hoping to get through without losing a game.
The Bull Dogs accomplished that. In 5-0 wins against Hauser on Thursday and Columbus East in Friday’s final, they won all of their matches by 6-0, 6-0 scores.
“Our goal again today, just like (Thursday) was, ‘Let’s go out there and not lose any games by just getting sloppy, and do what we need to do and work on things looking down the road,’ and we did that,” North coach Kendal Hammel said. “I was pleased with how we played.”
Singles wins for the Bull Dogs (14-1) came from Nathan Lin against Derek Heideman at No. 1 singles, Hank Lin against Matthew Degner at No. 2 singles and Anvay Atram against Brady Redelman at No. 3 singles.
North’s Matthew Liu and Amrit Kar beat Henry Ulrich and Tyler Ernst at No. 1 doubles. Eric Stavnheim and Parth Shah topped Jacob Dettmer and Lincoln West at No. 2 doubles.
“Coming in, we had already played them once, so we were pretty prepared,” Nathan Lin said. “We’ve been working hard getting ready for the state tournament, and I think now starts the time where we can show the entire state that we deserve the second ranking.”
The Olympians finish the season 3-10.
“I saw a lot of improvement throughout the season in several of the guys,” East coach Matt Malinsky said. “It’s hard to tell with the level of opponent we were up against today. The guys on the other side are just excellent players, so any improvements we did make, you can’t make up for the years of experience we went up against across the net.”
North will face Jennings County on Tuesday in the Bloomington South Regional semifinals. The regional final is Wednesday.
“Going into regional that first match, our goal again is 6-0, 6-0 so we can keep that intensity going all the way through,” Hammel said.
