Columbus North’s Ashlie Wilson hypes up her teammates before a match against Seymour at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Monday, April 25, 2022.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Columbus North has one of its best girls tennis teams in school history this season, but the Bull Dogs haven’t had a lot of chances to show it.
When North hosted Seymour on Monday, it marked only the sixth time the Bull Dogs have been able to take the courts this season. They’ve been rained out of two tournaments, along with their annual crosstown rivalry match against Columbus East.
“It’s been a real bummer,” senior doubles player Tiffany Fu said. “Each match, we kind of just have been waiting until the last minute to see if it would get called.”
That looked like it might be the case again Monday, but the rain let up early enough in the afternoon to dry the courts for a 5-0 North victory.
“We’ve had a lot of cancellations, and we haven’t been able to play many matches, but I think overall, the team chemistry this year is very good, and it makes the season a lot more fun,” senior No. 1 singles player Ashlie Wilson said. “I think we have a really strong team this year. We’ve been practicing really hard, and I think we have a really chance to do well.”
Ashlie Wilson and Fu are four-year varsity players. They were on a state-qualifying team as freshmen before seeing their sophomore season canceled because of the COVID pandemic. Last year, they helped lead the Bull Dogs back to the semistate, where they fell to Evansville Memorial.
North has been ranked No. 2 in the state behind Carmel since the beginning of this season.
“I’m really happy with the team so far,” Fu said. “We’re still kind of figuring out our strongest lineup currently, but I think we’re doing really well competing against other teams and hoping to keep getting better as we approach some harder teams coming up.”
The Bull Dogs’ singles lineup is set with Ashlie Wilson, a Purdue recruit, at No. 1, undefeated sophomore Kathryn Wilson at No. 2 and freshman Aya Saad at No. 3. In doubles, coach Kendal Hammel has used a combination of Fu, returning seniors Sydney Cooper and Leah George, freshman Annabelle Sun and junior Siri Poludasu.
“It definitely has been tough (with the rainouts),” Cooper said. “We’ve been working through some kinks and moving people around, trying to figure out who works well with who in the doubles positions.”
In Saturday’s Park Tudor Invitational, Fu and George played No. 1 doubles, and Cooper and Sun played No. 2 doubles. With Fu resting on Monday, Cooper and Sun moved up to No. 1 doubles, and George and Poludasu played No. 2 doubles.
“The singles are playing well, and everyone knows that’s a lot of our strength,” Hammel said. “The doubles are just going to be a work in progress. We just know we’re not as strong in the doubles, and we just have to try to improve whatever lineup, whatever situation there may be down the road.”
North’s lone blemish this season came on Saturday, when it finished second behind No. 4 Jasper in the Park Tudor invite. The Bull Dogs and Wildcats will square off again Friday in the first round of the Avon Invitational and could meet again in the Jasper Semistate.
“It’s been interesting between the weather and matches being canceled,” Hammel said. “The matches that we’ve had have not been head-to-head strong teams necessarily in the rankings. The tournament that we played this weekend and came in second behind Jasper was where a lot of top teams were playing, but it was a flighted tournament. So it was hard to see how we would have done in a team situation overall.”
On Monday, North improved to 5-0 in dual matches with the win against Seymour. Ashlie Wilson beat Brook Schaffstall, Kathryn Wilson blanked Madalyn Baurle 6-0, 6-0 and Saad topped Elise Hartung, all by 6-0, 6-0 scores. Cooper and Sun also downed Ashley Clemente and Caroline Thompson 6-0, 6-0, while George and Poludasu defeated Jessica Houghland and Addison Hunsley 6-3, 6-0.
The Bull Dogs face a tough task tonight when they host perennial Kentucky power North Oldham at 6 p.m.
“We’ve always had a really strong team, but I think this year with some of our incoming freshmen and our returning seniors, we have another really strong team,” Ashlie Wilson said.
“It’s been very difficult (with the rainouts),” Kathryn Wilson added. “Leading up to the (Park Tudor) tournament, we weren’t used to playing as strong teams as we did, so it was kind of rough. But we have good people who have come in and are really going to help us this year.”
