Center Grove sophomore Tyler Lane has battled a trio of injuries this season. Fortunately for the Trojans, Lane has been healthy since the final few regular season matches.
Lane helped No. 7 Center Grove shut out unranked New Castle 5-0 Saturday afternoon in the Center Grove Semistate. Entering Friday’s state quarterfinal against No. 15 Floyd Central, the Trojans have not dropped a point in five postseason tennis matches.
Center Grove topped Floyd Central 4-1 earlier this season.
Lane improved to 14-3 by defeating New Castle’s Trenton Alfrey 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1 singles.
“I feel like this match and my last match, my second serve has made an improvement and my aggressive forehands have (improved),” Lane said.
Lane had the longest match Saturday.
“It was nice to see that Tyler was pushed in that first set,” Center Grove coach David Beasley said. “That was good for him because we are going to have some good competition Friday and hopefully Saturday.”
Lane said he started slow.
“It wasn’t the best first set I ever played, but I got it figured out in the second set,” said Lane, who had his serve broken once in the first set.
The right-handed Lane was slowed for a good portion of the season by right elbow injury along with hip and foot injuries. Yet he has still made strides after playing No. 1 singles as a freshman, too.
Beasley believes Lane has made the most improvement in his mental game.
“He is super receptive to what the coaching staff talks to him about and he tries to implement it,” Beasley said. “He’s a guy who stays on the baseline and just rips the ball, so we worked on creating more tools for him and integrating different game styles for him. He’s taken that in full stride.”
Lane, 15, said he is around 5-foot-8 but is still growing.
“The taller he gets and the bigger he gets, the bigger the serve is going to get,” Beasley said.
Lane is optimistic about the way his team has been dominating in the postseason.
“My other teammates who have been injured are getting better, so I’m feeling confident going into these tougher matches,” Lane said.
Center Grove’s other two singles players didn’t drop a game against New Castle. Junior Loc Pham beat Caden Blackford at No. 2 singles while sophomore Daksh Patel shut out Jacob Jenkins at No. 3. Each of those matches took less than an hour.
At No. 1 doubles, senior Evan Davis and junior Max Williams dropped one game in each set in a victory over Brayton Cornwell and Samuel Underhill. Sophomores Carson Bush and Dimitri Kandris beat Vincent Farris and Leo Underhill 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 doubles.
Beasley was impressed with the team’s focus.
“We talked to the boys that from the first ball dropping, every point is important,” Beasley said.
