Columbus North athletics director Brian Lewis awards Columbus North the sectional trophy at Columbus North, Friday, May 19, 2023.
Paige Grider | For The Republic
History repeated itself once again Friday night.
The No. 12-ranked Columbus North girls tennis team took care of business in ousting Brown County 5-0 to claim the sectional championship. It’s a title that the Bull Dogs have held since 2014.
North moves on to face the winner of the Seymour Sectional in the regional semifinals on Tuesday at Bloomington South.
“I’m really proud of our team overall,” North senior Siri Poludasu. “We’re definitely not as strong as we were last year, but we’re still a great team. I’m really proud of all our new girls and everybody on the team. I’m grateful that I got to have my senior day, as well. I’m just really proud of my team overall.”
The Bull Dogs (17-4) won every game in all three singles positions. Kathryn Wilson defeated Anna Stogsdill at No. 1 singles, Aya Saad topped Anna Tipton at No. 2 singles and Annabelle Sun blanked Julia Burt at No. 3 singles, all by 6-0, 6-0 scores.
At No. 1 doubles, Lucy Bergman and Grace Conner beat Londyn Koester and Katie Tipton 6-1, 6-3. At No. 2 doubles, Poludasu and Nino Akahalya defeated Cady Kemp and Ava Kelly 6-1, 6-2.
The Eagles finish the season 12-8. Brown County coach Thom Miller is proud of his team this season.
“We were going off a great season last year, so I knew this was going to be a really good season for us. I’m super proud of how hard these girls have worked and the improvement they have getting up to this point,” Miller said. “Most of our losses were against state-ranked teams because that’s what the idea was. We wanted to get comfortable walking on the court with top level players, and our girls are. They walk out there fearlessly, and they play, and I’m really proud of them.”
North moves on to Tuesday’s regional semifinal. Should the Bull Dogs advance to the final, it likely will set up a rematch with No. 16 Bloomington North, which defeated them 3-2 earlier in the season to win the Conference Indiana title.
However, should they meet on Wednesday, the Bull Dogs will have a different lineup than the one from the earlier matchup.
“I think overall as a full team, we’re a little stronger in our positions,” Columbus North coach Kendal Hammel said. “We’ll have strong 1, 2, 3 singles, and I know they’re No. 3 singles player is a very good player. Annabelle has come a really long way now that I threw her back into singles, and then the doubles, they’ve just taken some time. One day, they can come out and play fantastic. The next day, we’re scratching our head trying to figure it out, so it’s keeping the continuity of what we need to do in that situation.”
