Center Grove’s Tyler Lane hits a return during Thursday’s sectional final against visiting Whiteland.
The emotion Center Grove coach David Beasley hoped to see from his team earlier in the week made its way to the surface in a big way on Thursday.
As a result, the fourth-ranked Trojans added to the program’s long list of sectional titles, with No. 37 coming courtesy of a 5-0 shutout of No. 24 Whiteland in the championship match at Center Grove.
Any concerns Beasley might’ve had prior to the match were squashed almost immediately.
“(Wednesday) night, after we played, I just told the guys we have to come out with more energy because Whiteland is going to scrap for every, every point,” Beasley said. “And we came out firing on all cylinders on all five courts and had great energy. Honestly, there’s quite a few spots in there where they can compete very well with us. Our guys just did a great job.”
Center Grove returns to its courts for a regional semifinal next Tuesday. Should the Trojans win there, they’ll be back on Wednesday with a semistate berth hanging in the balance.
Four of Thursday’s matches were by decided by decisive margins, including Tyler Lane’s 6-1, 6-1 defeat of Warrior senior Spencer Gillespie at No. 1 singles.
“It’s my last sectional, so that really got me motivated today, and not so much who I was playing,” Lane said. “Even though we have a lot of seniors, we’re one of the hardest-working teams, and David is a great coach.”
Gillespie finished his career tied for second on Whiteland’s all-time victories list with Ty McCullars at 78. Gillespie’s older brother Quinten, who now plays at the University of Southern Indiana, continues to sit at the top with 85 career wins.
“My words to Spencer early on were, you’re your own player, you’re going to do your own thing, and by the time you’re done, it will be ‘Quinten who?’” Warriors coach Mike Gillespie said. “And I think he’s kind of done that. I think he’s made his mark, and he has had a great career.”
The No. 2 singles match was won by CG’s Yuvraj Dasari over A.J. Stephenson 6-0, 6-2. The last match to be completed was the No. 3 singles battle that had Quinn Smith holding off Whiteland’s Jeremiah Hurt 6-1, 6-4.
Center Grove’s top doubles duo of seniors Carson Bush and Daksh Patel, losers of only one match all season, scored a 6-0, 6-1 decision over Isaac Phegley and Gavin Stubbe.
Bush feels his team’s big-match experience makes it difficult to beat this time of year.
“Our success as a team, I think a lot of it is because we’re senior-heavy,” Bush said. “All of us have been in this program forever. We’ve grown up in a winning program like this … it’s all about the experience. We’ve been on good teams in the past that were top 15, top 10, so being in that atmosphere every year has really helped.”
The Trojans’ No. 2 doubles combo of Russell Dean and Jack Dybwad defeated Quintin Gieseking and Tysen McGary 6-1, 6-0.
Whiteland finishes the season with a 19-5 record. Its eight seniors, including starters Gillespie, Hurt, Stubbe and Phegley, depart as the school’s winningest class with a total of 77 victories.
“We play a different type of tennis,” coach Gillespie said. “I’m at peace with how we play. It’s a different mentality.”
In semifinal action at the Columbus North Sectional, Edinburgh saw its season come to an end with a 5-0 loss to Hauser. All five of those matches were decided in straight sets.
