Columbus North’s Hank Lin hits a shot during a No. 1 singles tennis match against Columbus East’s Erik Takahashi at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Hank Lin was headed for a shutout Tuesday, but leading 5-0 in the second set against Columbus East’s Erik Takahashi, Lin found himself trailing 30-0.
Lin wasn’t fazed. He rallied to win the next four points to finish off a 6-0, 6-0 win and kick start eighth-ranked Columbus North to a 5-0 victory.
“I was just focused on trying to make him make the first mistake,” Lin said. “That worked out pretty well for me to win the game. It was a little bit of a rocky start at first. I wasn’t really hitting the ball very well. I felt like as the match progressed, I started hitting more comfortably and consistent.”
Lin’s victory was the first of four 6-0, 6-0 wins for the Bull Dogs (4-1). North’s Parth Shah beat Matthew Degner 6-0, 6-2 at No. 2 singles.
“They have a nice 1 and 2,” North coach Kendal Hammel said.
The Bull Dogs’ Austin Clark beat Brady Redelman at No. 3 singles. Amrit Kar and Anvay Atram topped Ethan Bumbalough and Jacob Dettmer at No. 1 doubles, and Parth Gupta and Darren Li topped Tyler Ernst and Lincoln West at No. 2 doubles.
“We just went out and played our tennis tonight,” Hammel said. “It went pretty much honestly went like we thought it would. In watching them, we did well in things that we expect to do that we should be doing. “ We just went out to take care of business to take care of your level and do somethings that down the road, might push the limit.”
The Olympians (1-3) were coming off their first win of the season a day earlier, a 5-0 shutout of Bedford North Lawrence.
North was coming off a 2-1 finish in its invitational over the weekend. The Bull Dogs fell to No. 5 Zionsville and beat No. 18 Jasper and Delta.
North hosts No. 29 Plainfield today, then has Conference Indiana matchups at Southport on Thursday and Terre Haute North on Saturday. The Bull Dogs then will face No. 1 Carmel on Tuesday at Southport.
“The competition is just going to get stronger and stronger down the road,” Hammel said. “We just have to do what we do in these kind of matches and get ready for the next one.”
