Columbus North’s Hank Lin hits a shot in a sectional final tennis match against Columbus East’s Erik Takahashi at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Sept. 30, 2022.
The Republic file photo
A big change was made in the offseason with many postseason realignments.
Greensburg has moved to the same sectional as Columbus North, Columbus East, Hauser and Edinburgh. Brown County moves to a sectional with Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Edgewood and Owen Valley. Jennings County will compete in a sectional with Seymour, Trinity Lutheran, Brownstown Central and Bedford North Lawrence.
Winners at those sectional sites now will play in a regional at Seymour and then at Center Grove for the semistate competition.
Here is a look at the area teams entering the 2023 season:
Columbus North
With their varsity lineup mostly intact from last year’s state quarterfinal run, the Bull Dogs have their eyes set for a state title run and will be one of the state’s top teams this year.
“This is probably one of the strongest teams in all the years that I’ve coached that I ever had with the talent and with the depth we have this year,” North coach Kendal Hammel said. “We look to see a lot of matches going in feeling like for sure we’re up 2-0 right off the bat with the talent we have (at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles).”
Junior Hank Lin returns at No. 1 singles and could be a contender for a state singles title in October. Junior Parth Shah will move to No. 2 singles after starting there last season and moving to No. 2 doubles at the end of last year. Senior Austin Clark and junior Steven Sun are battling for the No. 3 singles spot.
Seniors Amrit Kar and Anvay Atram will return at No. 1 doubles, where they were the state doubles runner-up last season. The duo should once again be in contention for the state doubles title this year. Juniors Yoki Murabayashi and Michael Crossman, sophomores Vince Sasse and Teddy Littrell and senior Preetham Yerragudi are battling for the No. 2 doubles spots.
“These guys worked really hard from last year to this year,” Hammel said. “Almost all the guys came back from last year except for one that graduated, and the new guys have come in and stepped up and improved.”
Columbus East
The Olympians had a breakthrough last season, tripling their win total from the previous year.
They return many pieces of their lineup heading into this season.
Columbus East’s Erik Takahashi hits a shot in a sectional final tennis match against Columbus North’s Hank Lin at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Sept. 30, 2022.
The Republic file photo
Seniors Eric Takahashi and Brady Redelman are projected to start at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively. Junior Tyler Ernst, who played on No. 2 doubles a year ago, is projected to start at No. 3 singles.
Seniors Jacob Detmer and Ethan Bumbalough will return as the No. 1 doubles team. The No. 2 doubles spots are still up for grabs.
“We have a ton of experience on our team at this point,” East coach Matt Malinsky said. “It’s easy to take that for granted, and all of a sudden, those guys are gone. That’s the nature of high school sports. It is exciting to see all those guys as they’ve been working all this time to be the guys in charge.”
Hauser
The Jets are looking to improve on their 6-10 record from last year. Coach Andy Kilps mentioned many of the losses last year were 3-2 decisions.
“We got wins most of the time at 1 and 2 doubles, but lost our singles matches, which made us lose 2-3,” Kilps said. “This year, I’m hoping we continue to do well at the doubles, and then hopefully, get one or two of those singles wins to win some more matches against these other teams.”
Senior Caleb Wallace returns at No. 1 singles. Junior Hunter Pappano will move to No. 2 singles after playing No. 1 doubles last year. Junior Colton Hatton is projected to play No. 3 singles.
Junior Jentzen Bechtel and sophomore Kameron Blair will play in the No. 1 doubles position. Junior Jayden Blair and sophomore RJ Foster will start the year at No. 2 doubles.
“We’re hoping to see our tennis program start to mature a lot more in these years to come and hopefully start to have more winning seasons and records going forward,” Kilps said.
Jennings County
Jennings County has realigned to a different sectional this year.
Sophomore Parker Bales will step in at No. 1 singles. Senior Ryan Schuck will start the season at No. 2 singles.
The rest of the positions are still to be determined. Sophomore Ty Zohrlaut is the frontrunner for the No. 3 singles spot. Sophomore Brady Sentz likely will team with junior Cole Skinner at No. 1 doubles, and senior Isaac Lightner and sophomore Rider Ruddick likely will play No. 2 doubles.
“We’ll improve as the season moves along. We have a lot of sophomores filling in holes left from graduation last year,” Jennings coach Deron Brown said. “They’re growing, and they’re learning. I think they’ll improve greatly throughout the year, so we’ll hopefully be much improved at the end of the year as compared to the first part of the year.”
Brown County
The Eagles return many of their players from last year.
Seniors Jack Sichting, Sawyer Gore, Jon Kirchhofer and Brandon Saechao all return, as well as juniors Owen East and Trevor Shields.
Newcomers on the team include senior Cord Smith, junior Eli Vela and freshmen Jax Burt, Theo King and Robert Webb.
“With the addition of five newcomers, the tennis team seeks to capitalize on their spirited energy as it compliments the seasoned maturity of the returning veterans,” Brown County coach Kevin Roush said on the school’s athletics website. “I look forward to watching these Eagles soar and succeed on the court.”
Edinburgh
The Lancers will look to improve on their 8-12 record from last year.
Senior Austin Brockman moves up from No. 2 singles to No. 1 singles. Junior Miles Burkman moves up from No. 3 singles to No. 2 singles. Sophomore Bailey Totten likely will play No. 3 singles.
The doubles lineup will be much different. Braylon Lankner, Teddy Crawhorn, Jason Music and Samson Parkhurst will battle to find out who will play at the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles positions.
“I think we’re going to do all right,” Edinburgh coach Pete Khensouri said. “Hopefully, we can improve a little bit from last year. We’re looking for improvement towards sectional time at the end of the year.”
Trinity Lutheran
The Cougars have a new coach in Brad Emerson, the former coach at Seymour.
Senior Soloman Hall, junior Nathan Finke and sophomores Jonathan Neawedde and Jack Stuckwisch are battling for the three singles spots.
Junior Will Gausman will likely play one of the doubles positions. Senior Drew Kerkhoff and freshman Luke Shepman could see time on the court this season.
“With the four vying for the singles spots and with our doubles spot, they are all really good athletes,” Emerson said. “I think we’ll be pretty successful. I’m looking forward to having a good season.”
The 2023 boys tennis schedules for Bartholomew County schools:
Columbus East
Today;at Greenwood;10 a.m.
Monday;Bloomington South;5 p.m.
Aug. 21;at Bedford North Lawrence;5 p.m.
Aug. 22;at Columbus North;4:30 p.m.
Aug. 24;Madison;5 p.m.
Aug. 28;at Oldenburg Academy;5 p.m.
Aug. 30; Brown County;5 p.m.
Aug. 31;at Jennings County;5 p.m.
Sept. 6;at East Central;5:30 p.m.
Sept. 7;at Batesville;5 p.m.
Sept. 9;at Shelbyville Invitational;9 a.m.
Sept. 13;Greensburg;4:45 p.m.
Sept. 14;at Seymour;5 p.m.
Sept. 16;East Invitational;9 a.m.
Sept. 18;HHC Tournament;5:30 p.m.
Sept. 20;HHC Tournament;5:30 p.m.
Sept. 22;HHC Tournament;5:30 p.m.
Columbus North
Monday;at Whiteland;5:30 p.m.
Friday;at Jeffersonville Invitational;5:30 p.m.
Aug. 19;at Jeffersonville Invitational;9 a.m.
Aug. 22;Columbus East;4:30 p.m.
Aug. 23;at Plainfield;5:30 p.m.
Aug. 24;Southport;5:30 p.m.
Aug. 26;Terre Haute North;10 a.m.
Aug. 29;vs. Carmel at Southport;5:30 p.m.
Aug. 30;Lawrence Central;5:30 p.m.
Sept. 1;at Oldenburg Academy;5:30 p.m.
Sept. 4;Seymour;4:30 p.m.
Sept. 5;at Franklin;5 p.m.
Sept. 6;vs. Terre Haute South at Bloomington North;5:45 p.m.
Sept. 7;Center Grove;9 a.m.
Sept. 9;North Invitational;9 a.m.
Sept. 11;at Jeffersonville;5:30 a.m.
Sept. 12;Bloomington South;5 p.m.
Sept. 16;at Floyd Central;10 a.m.
Sept. 19;at Silver Creek;5:30 p.m.
Sept. 21; Bloomington North;5:30 p.m.
Hauser
Tuesday;Shelbyville;5 p.m.
Thursday;Brown County;4:30 p.m.
Aug. 19;Rushville;9 a.m.
Aug. 21;Milan;4:30 p.m.
Aug. 24;at Eastern Hancock;5 p.m.
Aug. 28;at Edinburgh;4:30 p.m.
Aug. 29;Southwestern (Shelby);4:30 p.m.
Aug. 31;at Indian Creek;4:30 p.m.
Sept. 5;at Triton Central;4:30 p.m.
Sept. 6;Edinburgh;4:30 p.m.
Sept. 7;at Morristown;4:30 p.m.
Sept. 12;Waldron;4:30 p.m.
Sept. 14;Trinity Lutheran;5 p.m.
Sept. 16;MHC at Waldron;4:30 p.m.
Sept. 20;at Oldenburg Academy;5:30 p.m.
Sept. 23;Hauser Heritage Days Classic;9 a.m.
Sept. 26;at Indianapolis Lutheran;4:30 p.m.
