For the first time in the postseason, the Center Grove boys tennis team had its starting lineup intact Friday.
Although the seventh-ranked Trojans lost 3-2 to No. 5 Munster in the state quarterfinals at Center Grove courts, it said a lot about the Trojans’ depth and determination that they made it as far as they did.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed, but the big picture is we accomplished quite a bit,” said Trojans coach Ivan Smith, whose team was missing three starters in the sectional and regional. “We had a lot of adversity. No one knows how that plays a toll on you with the mental part. Having to go through sectional, regional and semistate, and not knowing what kids are going to be quarantined. We still ended up in state finals and we had opportunities to win. I’m disappointed, they’re disappointed, but we fought hard. We’d like to play some points better, that’s about all it would have taken.”
Center Grove finished 18-6. Munster (19-1) will play No. 3 North Central, a 4-1 winner over Columbus North, in today’s semifinals at North Central. No. 1 Carmel meets No. 11 Jasper in the other semi.
Munster earned its clinching third point when Danny Sroka rallied to beat senior Seth Jasek 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3 singles. Jasek was playing his first match since the regular-season finale.
“I just took it one point at a time, fight, fight, fight,” Jasek said. “The first set he was scrambling around and the second set he pulled himself together in a sense. I kept playing my game but he just hit better shots.”
Down 4-1 in the third set, Jasek won two games to draw closer.
“I changed things up and giving him different looks, and that helped for a while,” he said. “Stamina has never been a problem for me; sometimes the guys are just better.”
Jasek returned to practice Monday.
“The big thing is he hadn’t gotten to play a match since the end of the regular season,” Smith said. “You can practice, and he actually hit while he was quarantined, but not having a uniform on, a scorecard and playing points, that’s like someone coming off the injured reserve list and the first day he’s off, he steps in a game and you expect him to hit a grand slam.”
The day’s longest match came at No. 2 doubles, where Center Grove’s junior Bennett Strain and senior Glenn Swaney outlasted Max Ladd and Nicholas Stephen 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5).
Trojans senior Luke Embrey blew by Nikash Kondamuri 6-2, 6-0 to finish unbeaten in the postseason and 24-3 overall at No. 2 singles.
“I’m proud of how we fought this season, especially missing guys and not knowing how the next match is going to go,” Embrey said.
Munster’s Peyton Specht was the first to finish, beating senior Dhrumil Patel 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1 singles. The Mustangs’ No. 1 doubles team of Charles Morton and Ryan Muntean defeated seniors Carson Contos and Landen Finlinson 7-5, 6-4.
“It was a match where, and this happens a lot when you get into high power matches, it’s not very pretty,” Smith said. “You’ll see a lot of great shots and you see a lot of head-scratchers. A lot of it is because of the pressure. They just happened to do better at times. It was a good match. They’re a good team. They were probably expected to win, but we had our opportunities.”
Smith said he is excited about players coming back, including two players, freshman Max Williams and sophomore Evan Davis, who got to play postseason matches when other players were sidelined because of quarantine.
“We have as strong a group coming in as freshmen as we’ve had in a long time,” said Smith, who has been coach since 1977. “There is a lot to be enthused about and look forward to.”
