Hank Lin
After missing matches the past two days with a heel and Achilles injury, Hank Lin wasn’t about to miss Thursday’s matchup with Center Grove.
Columbus North was glad to have Lin back in the lineup. The third-ranked Bull Dogs needed his victory in a 3-2 win against the No. 9 Trojans.
“There’s definitely some good competition,” Lin said. “I was excited for it.”
Lin beat Tyler Lane 6-2, 6-4 at No. 1 singles.
“I played really well the first set,” Lin said. “I was striking the ball really well. I tried to do things like serve-and-volley, but the second set was definitely a bit tricky. I played a new style that I could adjust to really quickly, but I just bounced back.”
“Obviously, with Hank in the lineup, we were able to get a win,” added North assistant coach Robin Cain, who was filling in for Kendal Hammel, who was out of town at a funeral. “He’s so tough and an excellent player, and we were glad he was able to get back in the lineup.”
Anvay Atrim
The other wins for North (7-1) came at the doubles positions. Amrit Kar and Anvay Atram topped Carson Bosh and Rusell Dean 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1 doubles.
“We played good, and a win is always good,” Atram said.
“They like rushing the net,” Kar added. “We’ve been playing a bunch of teams that have been doing that same tactic, so we’re kind of getting used to it and trying to use it to our advantage at some points. We kind of figured out their game and just executed our game plan.”
Amrit Kar
The clinching point came at No. 2 doubles, where Michael Crossman and Yoki Murabayashi defeated Quinn Smith and Yovraj Dasarii 7-6 (8), 6-3.
“Michael and Yoki did a great job,” Cain said. “Our doubles came through for us tonight. We were just grateful to get those straight-set wins at 1 and 2 doubles. Doubles picked up their game tonight, and I’m real proud of those guys.”
The Bull Dogs’ Parth Shah fell to Dakas Patel 6-3, 7-5 at No. 2 singles. Austin Clark lost to Max Williams 6-0, 6-2 at No. 3 singles.
“Center Grove is a very good team, well coached,” Cain said. “It’s really nice to get the win against a quality team. We don’t play enough quality teams during this part of the season, so it’s great that the boys were able to step up and get it done.”
