Columbus North’s Teddy Littrell serves at No. 3 singles in Saturday’s semistate match against Cathedral at Center Grove.
Zayne Spangler | For The Republic
Columbus North is playing its best tennis at the right time.
The fifth-ranked Bull Dogs are going to need it with three more wins necessary to win the state championship.
The first test for North will be No. 14 South Bend Saint Joseph in the quarterfinal round at 10 a.m. Friday at North Central.
“I think we have a good chance at winning some more matches at state. It’s one of our best chances to win this year,” North senior Michael Crossman said. “Everyone has been playing really well. I think the last match (in Saturday’s semistate against Cathedral) was probably the best match I played all season.”
North and South Bend St. Joseph haven’t faced each other this season, but Bull Dogs coach Kendal Hammel has gotten a bit of a scouting report from talking to other coaches and seeing some of the match results to get an idea of what type of team the Huskies are. South Bend St. Joseph has two strong players at the top two singles spots, and then a little bit of a dropoff after that.
North is the favorite in the matchup.
“South Bend is a solid team, but they don’t have the great, big players. My luxury this year is Hank Lin at No. 1 singles,” Hammel said. “As we go into it, we’re looking at trying to win 1 if not 2 doubles positions in that situation and then Hank at 1 singles and Parth (Shah) at 2 singles. Parth has been great. He’s only lost one match all year. He’s sort of that silent weapon for us right now. We’ll see what happens at 3 singles, we just don’t know.
“I know ranking-wise, we’re favored. On paper, it looks like we’re probably favored, but just like we were in (Saturday’s) match against Cathedral, we still have to go out and play. It’ll be the same thing,” he added.
Should North prevail Friday, it would take on the winner between top-ranked Brebeuf Jesuit and No. 8 Evansville Memorial in one semifinal matchup. In the other half of the bracket, No. 4 Center Grove faces No. 16 Penn, and No. 6 Jasper faces No. 18 Noblesville, with those winners meeting in the other semifinal match. The semifinals begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, and the semifinal winners meet in the state championship match at around 2 p.m. the same day at North Central.
Should the Bull Dogs and Braves square off in the semifinal, they have a common opponent in third-ranked Carmel. North lost to the Greyhounds 4-1 in the regular season, and Brebeuf defeated Carmel 3-2 in the regional semifinals.
In the Bull Dogs match with Carmel, Shah lost in three sets at No. 2 singles. Both doubles matches lost close two-set contests, with Crossman not 100% healthy at the time. Lin picked up the lone victory for North at No. 1 singles.
The Bull Dogs would be the underdog if they play Brebeuf Jesuit in the semifinals.
“If Brebeuf is who we play, we know their strengths are their singles, for sure. That’s where we’re going to have really be focusing on positions and how things come out,” Hammel said. “Yes, Carmel did beat us, and they beat Carmel, but we were very close with Carmel. We just have to step up to fight the battle and show that we’ve improved and do what we can do in that situation. I would not count us out at all against Brebeuf, but I don’t think there’s a team that we cannot play against at all this season.
“Was that my thought process at the beginning of the year? No. I did not know what to expect from this team. This team has outplayed themselves,” he added. “The guys have stepped and done the job that they needed to do between injuries, sickness and winning the 3-2 matches against good teams. I really did not honestly expect that with this season at all and where we are. We’re here. Let’s go with it and see what happens.”
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