Colubmus North’s Nino Akhalaya, left, and Annabelle Sun share a light moment after winning their No. 1 doubles semistate match at Center Grotve.
Chris Williams | For The Republic
By Mark Ambrogi
For The Republic
GREENWOOD — Columbus North came up a little short in its quest to advance to the Girls Tennis State Finals, but the Bull Dogs did qualify its No. 1 doubles team in the individual state tournamet.
The 17th-ranked Trojans beat the No. 18 Bull Dogs 4-1 in Saturday’s Center Grove Semistate. North earned its lone point at No. 1 doubles, where senior Annabelle Sun and junior Nino Akhalaya downed seniors Val Arriz and Paisley Carter 7-5, 6-2.
Sun and Alhalaya will have next weekend off before the Singles and Doubles State Finals, which are June 13-14 at North Central.
“They did a great job, and they get to move on to the state doubles tournament,” North coach Kendal Hammel said.
Freshman Alejandra Arriz earned the clinching third point at No. 3 singles with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over North senior Ayane Umemura. Center Grove (17-9) will play No. 3 Jasper at noon Friday in the state quarterfinals at North Central High School.
Trojans junior Sloane Small was still on the court when her team clinched it. She went on to win the final point by beating senior Aya Saad 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 at No. 1 singles.
Small played Saad earlier in the season, but had to retire in the third set because of leg cramps. The Bull Dogs won 3-2 on April 8 in a season opener.
“They changed their lineup, and we changed our lineup,” Center Grove coach Debby Burton said. “I felt it was a really doable match, and we just needed to play our game. I’m just super proud of how hard they competed up and down the line.”
Hammel said he knew it was going to be a close match coming into it.
“I didn’t know which way it was going to go,” he said. “They outplayed us today. They did a better job than us of winning the points.”
Hammel said it was disappointing Saad lost at No. 1 singles. Saad had previously been unbeaten in the postseason.
“Aya has put in so much work,” he said. “(Small’s) style of play just wore her down as far as not being able to put balls away like she needed to do.”
At No. 2 singles, Center Grove junior Kenna Harbin cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over junior Lucy Bergman.
“At No. 2 singles, we just came out flat,” Hammel said. “Ayane had opportunities to win that second set at No. 3 singles, and I thought we were going to be in another third set.”
Center Grove’s duo of senior Ashley Embrey and freshman Maggie Teed edged seniors Lizzie Bodart and Grace Conner 6-4, 6-3 at No. 2 doubles.
“They were in it, but just couldn’t get over the hump,” Hammel said of his No. 2 doubles team. “We couldn’t get what we needed to do to win the points and get that momentum going.”
The Bull Dogs (16-7) started five seniors and two juniors.
“We have a lot of seniors, so we’re going to have to reload and come back somehow with some new players,” Hammel said.
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