Welcome to the club, Hamilton Southeastern.
The Indianapolis area has long been where the powers of Indiana high school boys tennis reside.
Saturday, at the Barbara Wynne Tennis Center at North Central High School, a new member emerged to join the likes of multiple state titlists Carmel, North Central, Park Tudor, et al.
Top-ranked Royals scored a 4-1 win over No. 6 Delta in the championship match of the 60th annual IHSAA state finals to claim their first-ever title. It marked only the second appearance for HSE in the finals, with its initial appearance coming a year ago.
In fact, the title match marked the first appearance for both HSE and Delta.
“I think we’ve always been in that group, but this is our first state title,” Royals coach Doug Gemert said. “We’ll have to see what kind of run we can go on, but we have a lot of young talent on this team and more coming in.”
The Royals claimed their title with two freshman and a sophomore manning the three singles spots. Two of those players, No. 1 Abhi Manikandan and No. 2 Parker Stump, scored straight-set wins to set up a sweep of the doubles matches to provide the final team score.
A year ago, HSE advanced to the semifinals before losing, 5-0, to eventual state champion Carmel.
The Royals then opened this season with a 4-1 loss to the Greyhounds, but Gemert and other players felt that match was a turning point.
“We took that loss right off the bat to Carmel and it really focused us,” Gemert said. “When we left Carmel, I thought we had a good team. Then we beat Zionsville (two matches later) and we knew we had something.”
That something turned into another win over No. 2 Zionsville in Friday’s quarterfinal match, then a 3-2 over No. 5 South Bend Saint Joseph in the Saturday morning semifinals.
All told, the Royals finished the season with 22 straight wins, with the only loss to Carmel.
“We felt this was possible a few matches into the season,” said senior Brady Stump – who joined junior Logan Foust at one doubles to claim a 6-1, 7-5 win over Delta’s Tyce Dishman and Brandon Grubbs. That victory improved the duo to 22-2 this season and they will advance to the individual doubles finals as the No. 1 seed next weekend at Park Tudor High School.
It was Stump who made a major sacrifice this season, as he was the team’s No. 1 singles player a year ago.
“Brady won the (Hoosier Crossroads) conference last year,” Gemert explained, “and we asked him to move to doubles and it went better than we thought. It showed this was really a team and there wasn’t any selfishness.”
“It hard at first,” Stump admitted, “but Logan and I have been best friends and so I thought it was a good idea for us looking at the possibilities and capabilities.”
“Playing one dubs with my best friend is an amazing experience,” Foust said. “And, we’re not done yet.”
Manikandan beat Jackson Darby, 6-0, 6-3, to provide HSE’s first point and improve to 24-1, individually. He beat Saint Joseph’s Jacob Hix, 6-2, 6-2, in the semifinals to knock Hix from the ranks of the unbeaten. Manikandan, a freshman, will be the top seed in the singles finals.
Two doubles Evan Holderman and Hudson Osswald added a 6-3, 6-2 win over Roman Ashcraft and Easton Duckworth, while Parker Stump beat Charlie Vannatter, 6-3, 7-6 (5), to round out the team score.
Delta’s win came at three singles as Luke Atkinson took a 6-3, 6-0 over Dilan Gavin. Atkinson played hero for Delta as he provided the decisive point in the 3-2, semifinal win over No. 3 Center Grove by pulling out a three-set victory.
“We’ve had some good teams for a long time,” Delta coach Tim Cleland said, “and this team is made up of special kids who had great attitudes and character. We played an unbelievable schedule and were prepared for this. (HSE) is the best team in the state and we don’t have a lot of regrets.”
Delta finished 24-3.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Top-ranked Hamilton Southeastern finishes the job, earns first boys tennis state title