For the Daily Journal
Center Grove tennis coach Ivan Smith expects Whiteland’s best in today’s Johnson County tournament championship.
“I don’t feel Whiteland has any fear of us,” Smith said. “I think they have respect and I hope my team has respect for the way they always compete. They’ve won (12) matches. They know how to win, and that’s always a huge thing. You can only beat the people on your schedule and they’ve done that. We’ll have to play well.”
Fifth-ranked Center Grove (8-3) advanced to face No. 25 Whiteland in the final by beating Greenwood 4-1 during Wednesday’s semifinals at Center Grove. Unbeaten Whiteland downed Franklin 4-1.
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Whiteland coach Mike Gillespie said his team has been in this situation before against the Trojans.
“Sometimes we’ve played well, somethings we’ve played poorly,” Gillespie said. “We’re going to show up, we’re going to play tennis and see what happens.”
Smith was pleased how his veteran team performed against Greenwood.
“Greenwood is a good team, the matches were competitive and we really had to play well,” Smith said.
The Woodmen’s lone point was senior Ethan Gray’s 6-0, 6-1 victory over Dhrumil Patel at first singles.
At No. 2 singles, Luke Embrey didn’t drop a game against Nick Belovic.
“I was just playing my game, hitting my shots and they were going in,” Embrey said.
At No. 3 singles, Center Grove’s Seth Jasek won 6-2, 6-1 over Charlie Brooks.
The No. 1 doubles team of Carson Contos and Landen Finlinson topped Thomas Burtt and Aiden Luttrell 6-1, 6-3. The Trojans’ No. 2 doubles team of Glenn Swaney and Bennett Strain dropped just two games in a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Sam Fenner and Noah Paswater.
“We know Center Grove is going to be good every year,” said Greenwood coach Jeremy Runge, whose team’s record dropped to 11-3. “I think we were competitive. I don’t think the scores are indicative of it. Their No. 2, Embrey, is an awesome player. I can’t look at any of our matches and say we should have won that match. We did what we were supposed to do and came up short.”
Embrey said he is impressed with how the Center Grove doubles teams are playing.
“I think we are headed in the right direction,” Embrey said. “We have a lot of experience, so if we get in tough matches we won’t freeze up.”
In the other semi, Warriors senior No. 1 singles player Quinten Gillespie won all 12 games against Franklin’s Silas Smith.
“He’ll enjoy tomorrow. Quinten has been looking forward to this for a while,” Mike Gillespie said. “He loves competition, as does everyone else on the team.”
Whiteland’s Ty McCullars cruised past Luke Rockey 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 singles. At No. 3 singles, the Warriors’ Ariss Mardanzai beat Pryce Rucker 6-0, 6-3. Josh Pitts and Travis Robinson were 6-3, 6-2 winners over Franklin’s Jackson Hedges and Zion Parkhurst at No. 2 doubles.
The Grizzly Cubs’ lone point came in the longest match of the day, as Jackson Klem and Sam Auger edged Christian Felker and Dylan Gross 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 10-6 at No. 1 doubles.
