Columbus North’s Amrit Kar hits a shot in a sectional final tennis match against Columbus East at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Sept. 30, 2022.
The Republic file photo
Columbus North’s Anvay Atram and Amrit Kar are undefeated this season.
The duo will look to remain unbeaten as they prepare for the Boys Tennis State doubles quarterfinals at 2 p.m. Friday against Jake Westberry and Luke Blumentritt of South Bend St. Joseph at Park Tudor High School in Indianapolis.
Should they advance to semifinal, Atram and Kar would take on the winner between Jasper’s Eli Flick and Noah Schue or Park Tudor’s Oliver Seifert and Michael Fryburg at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Park Tudor. The state final match is set for 2 p.m. Saturday, also at Park Tudor.
Atram and Kar previously played doubles together when they were freshmen. Last season, Kar played with Matthew Liu at No. 1 doubles, and Atram played at No. 3 singles.
When North coach Kendal Hammel put Atram and Kar at No. 1 doubles this season, they picked up right where they left off.
“We’ve been playing in a lot of tournaments for a while,” Kar said. “We’ve been playing together over the summer, too. We work on thngs over the summer and in the offseason whenever we can.”
Columbus North’s Anvay Atram gets into position during a No. 1 doubles tennis match against Columbus East at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022.
The Republic file photo
Atram and Kar have played a lot together outside of high school competition. They played in many doubles tournaments, including some the United States Tennis Association events. The chemistry between the two won’t be an issue heading into Friday. This is the first time the duo has played in the doubles state quarterfinals.
“There’s definitely going to be pressure with the crowds because a lot of people yell, and then we feel under pressure,” Atram said. “We don’t have a lot of weaknesses but ground strokes, usually, and hitting the net.”
“It’s also being confident in our play-style” Kar added. “We don’t want to fall back under pressure. We want to play our game and be confident.”
Kar and Atram are 5-0 in the postseason and are 21-0 overall in doubles matches this season.
“They need to do what they’ve been doing. They think together, they talk together really well and they figure things out,” North coach Kendal Hammel said. “They trust each other’s shots. They set each other up very well off their shots, too, from the baseline, to the net, moving around. We’re not doing anything different, nothing special, but doing what they need to be doing.
“They know each other’s games from playing the last few years and two years ago (on the team) as freshmen,” he added. “It’s knowing and respecting each other and trusting each other. All of that really adds into what it takes for a good doubles team.”
Regardless if their season ends Friday or Saturday, Atram and Kar both say that it was a very successful campaign.
“We have confidence, definitely,” Atram said. “We played really well two years ago, and we played really well this year, too.”
“I feel like we’ve improved as the season went on,” Kar added. “We developed our doubles game throughout and improved our chemistry.”
