In a rivalry that dates back a decade, Delta and Culver Military Academy renewed their annual match on a perfect late summer afternoon on the CMA campus Saturday.
Culver, ranked 14th in the state. flexed its muscles in a 5-0 victory at the Gable Tennis Center, although Delta made things interesting in several of the opening sets.
The rivalry began when the two teams met in the quarterfinals of the IHSAA State Finals in 2014. Delta won that match 4-1 and the two coaches, Delta’s Tim Cleland and CMA’s Alan Loehr, then agreed to begin a regular-season series the following fall.
Delta won the annual battle in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 to move to 7-0 in the series. CMA then broke through with a victory in 2021 and has won each of the past three years also to pull to within 7-4 in the all-time series.
In 2018, seniors Tannon Dishman, Joel Ashman, Ben Bamidele and Ben Slavin and junior Cade Brown began a new post-match tradition by jumping into Lake Maxinkuckee, the second largest natural lake in Indiana.
In 2019, another new tradition started as players and families began playing cornhole down by the lake as they enjoyed Papa’s pizza from the town’s legendary restaurant.
In 2020, there were no fans allowed at the match due to Covid 19 regulations. Match updates were sent via WhatsApp throughout the match.
Campus tours have been held most years, enabling us to see sights such as the nation’s only indoor rowing center on a high school campus, the hockey rink, the nation’s No. 1 ranked lacrosse team in action, the equestrian center, the student lunch area, the school’s leadership center, and several barracks.
Culver is an 11-time state finalist in boys’ tennis, including each of the past two seasons. CMA returned four starters from a year ago when they finished in the state Final Four.
Delta is a five-time state finalist in boys’ tennis.
Delta hung tough at No. 1 singles and both doubles positions in the first 30 minutes of Saturday’s match. Senior Kody Vest dropped the first set 3-6 in a slugfest against Culver senior William Tullis (South Bend. IN). At No. 1 doubles, juniors Brady Williams and Ben Miller battled to a tiebreaker before falling 6-7 (6) in the opening set to senior Fredrick Morches (Kansas City, MO) and freshman J. Bartlelye. At No. 2 doubles, junior Aaron Elliott and senior Kam Swoboda led much of the opening set but dropped a 5-7 decision to senior Peter Allen (Culver, IN) and junior Emiliano Ornelas (El Paso, TX).
After the early scares, Culver regrouped and cruised to comfortable victories in the second sets. Culver also won at No. 2 singles with senior Peter Bilicic (Del Mar, CA) over Owen Cupp and at No. 3 singles with junior Sam Bernal (Seattle, WA) over Luke Atkinson.
In the JV match, Culver emerged with a tight 8-6 victory.
Winners for Delta were all in doubles. The teams of Bryce Carmichael/Ayden Mitchell, Alexander Smith/Graham Sieber, Daniel Tokar/Rylan Oliver, Jacob Williams/Denys Krushenytskyi, Grant Durkovich/Maddox Weddle, and Reid Cardemon/Owen Zacek were winners. In addtion, James Root took his opponent to a tiebreaker at No. 2 singles before falling, 4-6, 6-3, 7-10. And Andrew Alexander/Jason Ogle also dropped a tiebreaker, 8-9 (5).
A scheduled morning match against Shelbyville was rained out. As a result, Delta was able to arrive to Culver earlier than normal and took a tour before the match, seeing the new barracks and the main hockey arena. After the match, the team toured the indoor rowing center and many players and managers got to try their hand at rowing.
Most of the team members swam in Lake Maxinkuckee and many games of cornhole were played. Coaches Tim Cleland and Tannon Dishman won several matches in a row before tennis parents Nate Vest and Justin Cupp delivered a crushing defeat, 22-20, in the last game of the night!
Next up for Delta will be a conference match against Greenfield-Central at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday. There will be a makeup match against Shelbyville on Wednesday evening although the site is not yet finalized. Then Delta will compete in the very rugged Fort Wayne Carroll Invitational on Saturday where the 8-team field included four state-ranked teams.
Complete results
DELTA 0, CULVER 5
Varsity Singles
1. Kody Vest (D) lost to Tullis (CMA), 3-6, 0-6
2. Owen Cupp (D) lost to Bilicic (CMA), 1-6, 0-6
3. Luke Atkinson (D) lost to Bernal (CMA), 1-6, 2-6
Varsity Doubles
1. Brady Williams / Ben Miller (D) lost to Morches / Bartelye (CMA), 6-7 (6), 1-6
2. Aaron Elliott / Kam Swoboda (D) lost to Allen / Ornelas (CMA), 5-7, 1-6
DELTA JV 6, CULVER JV 8
JV Singles
1. Colten Cruea lost 1-6, 1-6
2. James Root lost 4-6, 6-3, 7-10
3. Roman Ashcraft lost 3-6, 4-6
4. Denys Krishenytskyi lost 6-8
5. Hunter Reed lost 1-6
JV Doubles
1. John Atkinson / Kaden Crist lost 4-6, 3-6
2. Bryce Carmichael / Ayden Mitchell won 6-1, 6-2
3. Alexander Smith / Graham Sieber won 9-7
4. Daniel Tokar / Rylan Oliver won 8-6
5. Andrew Alexander / Jason Ogle lost 8-9 (5)
6. Jacob Williams / Denys Krushenytskyi won 8-4
7. Grant Durkovich / Maddox Weddle won 8-1
8. Reid Cardemon / Owen Zacek won 8-3
9. Kiptyn Berry / Jensen Moody lost 4-8