Columbus North’s Hank Lin returns a shot in the No. 1 singles match in the boys tennis regional final against Seymour at Columbus North High School on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024.
James Pence | The Republic
When Columbus North and Seymour met in the boys tennis regular season, the Owls took the Bull Dogs to three sets at No. 1 doubles and played them close at No. 3 singles and No. 2 doubles.
In Wednesday’s rematch, fifth-ranked North controlled those three matches. Coupled with shutouts at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, it gave the Bull Dogs a 5-0 win in the North Regional final.
“I thought we all played well,” North coach Kendal Hammel said. “We talked about the first match — we won 5-0 — to come out ready to go for this match, especially 1 doubles because they went three sets last time. I was pleased with how we came out with the intensity.”
The Bull Dogs (19-1) move on to Saturday’s semistate, where they will face the winner of the North Central Regional at Center Grove.
North’s Hank Lin got off the court first with a 6-0, 6-0 win against Parker Thompson at No. 1 singles.
“I had the same mindset as any other match — play aggressive, don’t make silly mistakes, stay disciplined throughout the whole match and not get down on yourself,” Lin said. “I think if we go through that every single match all the way to the state finals, we’ll get to first place.”
Columbus North’s Parth Shah returns a shot in the No. 2 singles match in the boys tennis regional final against Seymour at Columbus North High School on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024.
James Pence | The Republic
Parth Shah also posted a 6-0, 6-0 victory against Carter Stein at No. 2 singles.
“Regional, we’re expected to come here and take care of business, and we’ve been doing that the last four years,” Shah said. “So I’m glad the way everyone played, and on forward to semistate.”
Columbus North’s Michael Crossman returns a shot in the No. 2 doubles match in the boys tennis regional final against Seymour at Columbus North High School on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024.
James Pence | The Republic
Teddy Littrell topped Dane Thompson 6-0, 6-3 at No. 3 singles. Vince Sasse and Yoki Murabayashi beat Joel Stevens and Shunsuke Takeuchi 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1 doubles, and Sashu Sabapathy and Michael Crossman defeated Xavier DuBois and Braylon Busby 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 doubles.
Columbus North’s Yoki Murabayashi returns a shot in the No. 2 doubles match in the boys tennis regional final against Seymour at Columbus North High School on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024.
James Pence | The Republic
“We knew what we were up against tonight,” Seymour coach Phillip Stein said. “Actually the first time we played Columbus North, we put up a better fight. But sometimes when you play a quality opponent like that, you can play pretty good, and on the scoreboard, it doesn’t look like much. But we had a lot of deuce and ad-in games and couldn’t get over the hump, so the scoreboard won’t show it, but we played decently well. But hats’ off to Columbus North. They’re an elite team and an elite program, and they earned it tonight.”
Meanwhile, in the individual singles tournament, Columbus East’s Tyler Ernst fell to East Central’s Joel Richter 7-5, 6-3, and Jennings County’s Parker Bales beat Braden Helton of Southwestern (Hanover) 6-4, 6-1.
“Last year, I played the same kid, and I was struggling a lot with the mental part,” Bales said. “Tonight, I really had to lock that part in. It was kind of rough in the first set with that, but then I kind of dialed in the second set and got it done.”
Bales will meet Richter for the sectional title on Thursday at North.
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