The Eagles jumped off to a fast start in the regional championship match but couldn’t hold on and eventually fell 3-2 to 18th-ranked Noblesville on Wednesday evening at the Noblesville Tennis Complex.
It was the second straight season in which Delta fell 3-2 to Noblesville in the regional final. Noblesville had four returning varsity players from a year ago when they reached the IHSAA State Finals for the first time in school history. Delta had three returning full-time varsity players.
After 25 minutes of action, the Eagles led 4-1 at all three singles positions and led 3-2 in both doubles positions.
At No. 1 singles, senior Kody Vest maintained his strong play from start to finish and rolled to a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Noblesville senior Ethan Feliciano. Kody raised his record to 16-8 with his 14th victory in the past 15 matches. He has not lost since Sept. 14.
Kody advances to the individual sectional singles championship, where he will face Westfield junior Parker Paramour tonight (Thursday) at 4:45 p.m. at the Noblesville courts.
At No. 2 singles, senior Owen Cupp put together the finest match of his high school career. Executing his game plan to near perfection, he won 6-2, 6-4 over Noblesville senior Zane Panning. Panning split time between No. 1 singles and No. 2 singles this season for Noblesville and had wins over Top 20 state-ranked teams Guerin Catholic, Westfield, Cathedral and Fishers.
Owen finished his senior season with a 14-12 varsity record at No. 2 singles, giving him a career varsity record of 18-18.
At No. 3 singles, freshman Luke Atkinson played a brilliant first set, winning 6-1 over Noblesville junior Max Habel. As the match progressed, the tough points took a toll on Luke. His shots started landing a little shorter in the court and Habel used a nasty down-the-line backhand drive to wrestle control of the match. In the end, Habel won a full third set match for the third time this season. The final score was 6-1, 3-6, 0-6. Luke finished his first season with an 18-8 record for one of the highest varsity win totals for a freshman in the past decade for DHS Tennis.
At No. 1 doubles, juniors Brady Williams and Ben Miller also started on fire, bolting to a 3-0 lead over Noblesville senior Jack Brenneman and junior Dane Campbell. The Noblesville squad regrouped and won the match 6-4, 6-4. In their first season of varsity action, Brady finished with a 17-9 record and Ben ended up 15-7.
Together, Brady and Ben won 15 of 21 matches in a difficult lineup position. The six matches they lost together were all to strong doubles teams: Culver Academies (6-7, 1-6), Shelbyville (2-6, 3-6), Canterbury (6-7, 6-7), Peru (7-5, 5-7, 6-10), Mt. Vernon (5-7, 4-6) and Noblesville (4-6, 4-6). As you can see, eight of the 12 sets they lost together were 4-6 or closer. The next challenge will be to work hard to take the next step to turn some of those close losses into victories.
That was also the case with the No. 2 doubles team of junior Aaron Elliott and sophomore Tyce Dishman. They led 4-3 in the first set but lost 4-6, 3-6 to Noblesville juniors Parker Stallings and Dustin Turpin. Aaron finished with an 18-8 record while Tyce ended up 13-4 after missing four weeks with a broken hand.
Together, Aaron and Tyce won 13 of 16 matches at No. 2 doubles. Their losses were to Fort Wayne Carroll (2-6, 6-7), Mt. Vernon (6-2, 5-7, 3-6) and Noblesville (4-6, 3-6). These scores again demonstrate that Delta doubles were in position to win almost every match all season but need to figure out how to seal the deal. Aaron now has a career varsity record of 31-15 after three seasons while Tyce is 25-9 at the varsity level after two seasons.
Exciting and very competitive situations are in the future for Delta boys’ tennis. The team returns six varsity letter-winners (Luke, Brady, Ben., Aaron, Tyce and Kaden Crist, who was 2-2 varsity and 15-5 JV) as well as JV standouts such as John Atkinson (1-1 varsity, 16-6 JV), Colten Cruea (1-0 varsity, 19-8 JV), Ayden Mitchell (20-5 JV), Bryce Carmichael (21-5 JV), Graham Sieber (20-4 JV), Roman Ashcraft (19-6 JV), Alex Smith (18-2 JV), and Daniel Tokar (19-2 JV) and several more who could make a move with strong offseason work.
In addition, an exceptionally strong class of eighth-graders will join the team next year, making for some strong competition for varsity and top JV playing positions.
This year’s team accomplished a lot with minimal experience. The Eagles finished 16-7 varsity and 15-1 JV. The varsity won the Kokomo Invitational and the Delta Invitational and the Delta Sectional for the 32nd straight year. The JV won the Kokomo Invitational and the Hoosier Heritage Conference title.
Four seniors will graduate, including Kody and Owen. Others who will graduate are Kam Swoboda, who earned his second varsity letter with a 4-4 varsity record and 8-5 JV record, and James Root, who finished 1-1 varsity and 14-6 JV.