Trojans to face Carmel in state finals showdown: Center Grove boys tennis team wins semistate

The Center Grove boys tennis team won’t have to wait long to find out how it stacks up against the best in its bid for a state championship.

By virtue of Saturday’s 5-0 win against No. 17 Northeastern in the Center Grove Semistate final, the No. 7 Trojans have a state finals quarterfinal matchup Friday against No. 1 Carmel at North Central.

Second-ranked Park Tudor also advanced to the state finals from the Center Grove Semistate with a 5-0 win against Terre Haute South.

Center Grove (17-5), meanwhile, is in the state finals for the second straight year. Carmel is 18-1.

Apart from Northeastern’s ranking and record (20-2 after Saturday), the Trojans — who were unusually vocal throughout the match — knew little about their semistate opponent.

“Going into this match, since we didn’t know too much about this school (Northeastern),” said senior No. 1 doubles player Logan Clevenger, “we knew that if we didn’t come out with energy we could lose a match or two. We support our other teammates, as well as get excited for ourselves. So just being loud shows we want to be there.

“The environment of the state finals will be even louder.”

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