Columbus North’s Luca Devidze returns a shot during the No. 2 doubles match Thursday against Batesville in the North Regional final.
Nicholas Shaw| For the Republic
Columbus North made sure Batesville didn’t have a chance Thursday.
No. 23-ranked North kept the intensity going and didn’t let up to claim the boys tennis North Regional title with a 4-1 win.
North moves on to take on Cathedral in the Center Grove Semistate at noon Saturday.
“I think we’ve got some good momentum going so far (heading into semistate). I’m excited to just go out with a bang, and do my best every match,” North senior No. 1 doubles player Vince Sasse said.
North and Batesville played in the North Invitational earlier in the season with North prevailing 3-2. North made sure it wouldn’t be as close Thursday.
“Our goal was again like sectional, ‘Can we do as good or better than in the last match,’ and we did. We stepped up everything. We didn’t let down in the second sets at all. We kept the pressure on them,” North coach Kendal Hammel said. “Overall, I think everybody raised their level, did what we needed to do from step to step from each match getting ready for that next one.”
Alek Devidze topped Caleb Mohr 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 singles for North. Jace Branham defeated Carson Meyer 6-4, 6-1 at No. 3 singles. Teddy Littrell and Sasse won against Wes Peters and Lincoln Garrett 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1 doubles. Luca Devidze and Jaishal Padmanabhan downed Owen Westerfeld and Landon Raver 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 doubles.
North’s Max Wei lost to Jevan Smith 1-6, 6-2, 10-3 at No. 2 singles.
North (14-6) can’t celebrate the regional title for long since they’ll have a quick turnaround for the next match.
“Whether it means anything or not, we will be the higher-ranked team there. Will we be favored? We probably will be favored, but we still have to play,” Hammel said. “It’s another Indianapolis school, and they’ll be good.”
Meanwhile, Jennings County advanced in both singles and doubles in the individual tournament. The Panthers’ Parker Bales beat Seymour’s Carter Stein 6-3, 6-2 in the sectional singles final and advances to the regional Oct. 18 at North Central.
“I knew it would be a tough match because last time, it was really tough, but I knew I had to stay in it mentally because I kind of put myself in a hole that I had to dig out of,” Bales said. “I kind of learned how to do that in the second set. I hope I can just carry that into regional.”
Jennings’ Ty Zohrlaut and Luke Napier topped Hauser’s Kam Blair and RJ Foster 6-4, 6-0 in the doubles tourney. Blair and Foster led 4-3 in the first set before Zohrlaut and Napier won the final nine games.
Zohrlaut and Napier will play Seymour’s Shunsuke Takeuchi and Braylon Busby for the doubles sectional title Friday, with the winner moving on to the regional Oct. 18 at North Central.
