Columbus North’s Nino Akhalaya, right, and Annabelle Sun shake hands with Carroll after the Chargers won during the semifinals of 32nd Annual IHSAA Doubles State Finals Saturday at UIndy Tennis Center.
Rob Baker | For The Republic
By Mark Ambrogi
For The Republic
INDIANAPOLIS — The Columbus North doubles team saw its season come to an end Saturday against a strong Fort Wayne Carroll duo.
Carroll’s team of Chloe Ceresa and Riley Glassley cruised past junior Nino Akhalaya and senior Annabelle Sun 6-0, 6-3 in the IHSAA state doubles semifinals at the UIndy Tennis Center. The semifinals were moved indoors from Park Tudor because of the rain.
Ceresa and Glassley were undefeated heading into the doubles championship before falling to Jasper’s Adaysha Smiley and Reese Mundey 6-0, 6-2 to finish the season 25-1.
‘“The other team played really well,” Bull Dogs coach Kendal Hammel said. “They didn’t make a lot of mistakes. They just simply outplayed us. We started out badly, got tentative and started questioning our shots. They just jumped all over us and could never get out of the hole. In the second set, we had a few chances there of maybe getting back into it. They out-served us, they out-groundstroked us, they out-lobbed us. They were more aggressive.”
Hammel said it was completely different from how the North doubles team usually plays.
“Not taking anything away from the other team, they just did everything better than we did, no doubt about it,” he said. “We couldn’t get things going. I would have never guessed the score to be what it is. I figured it would be a really close match. Just not getting started right off the bat hurt our confidence. We were doubting a little bit. We were sitting back on our heels instead of reacting to the ball. They were a much better, stronger team, and we just didn’t step up to it and do our best, as well.”
Sun and Akhalaya finished with an 18-7 record.
“They just hit it a lot better than us,” Sun said. “They outplayed us in general, whether it was up at the net, the groundstrokes back at the baseline and their serves. They had a lot less mistakes than we did. We beat ourselves and lost a lot of points through mistakes.”
Akhalaya said she was nervous to start the match.
“The second set, I started to get into it,” she said. “I think we both did, but by that time, they were just playing so well.”
Akhalaya said it was a great learning experience..
“I’m really glad I got to be here,” Akhalaya said.
Sun said it was a good way to end her high school career.
“We’ve always been wanting to make state as individuals or as a team,” Sun said. “So just ending on a positive note, going to state and having our teammates watch us was a good experience.”
Center Grove had topped the Bull Dogs 4-1 in the team semistate, but by being undefeated in the tournament at No. 1 doubles, they were able to advance in the doubles tournament.
