For the first tine in seven years, the Eagles prevailed in all three rounds to win the 41st annual Kokomo High School boys’ tennis invitational.

Delta beat Peru 4-1 in Saturday’s opening round,, then edged Kokomo 3-2 in round two. The Eagles then ended the hot day with a thrilling 3-2 victory over a senior-laden West Lafayette team for the championship.

How big was the win over West Lafayette?  Well, the Red Devils featured a lineup of six seniors and one junior and recently gained a 4-1 victory over Fort Wayne Canterbury, a team that beat Delta 3-2 earlier this season.  West Lafayette also played Culver Military Academy close in a 2-3 loss while Delta lost 0-5 to CMA.

So this was a significant upset, but it also shows the amount of improvement the Eagles have made since the start of the season. They have won five straight matches and are now 8-4.

Freshman Luke Atkinson played a starring role on Saturday.  He went 3-0, including a 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 3 singles over a German foreign exchange student for Kokomo and a 6-2, 6-4  victory at No. 2 singles over West Lafayette senior Gavin Ruan in the final round.  That last result came with the team score tied at 2-2 and everyone from both teams watching .  Atkinson is now 10-5 for the season.

He was not Saturday’s only standout.  This was a team effort in every sense of the words.  In fact, 24 Delta players traveled to the Kokomo Invite for varsity and JV action and all 24 collected at least one victory.

Junior Aaron Elliott went 3-0 in varsity doubles, all with different partners.  He won 6-1, 6-1 over Peru at No. 2 doubles with senior Kam Swoboda, then won 6-1, 6-1 over Kokomo  at No. 2 doubles with sophomore Tyce Dishman. Elliott finished the day with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over West Lafayette at No. 1 doubles with senior Kody Vest.   Elliott raised his record to 10-5 for the season,

Also going undefeated in varsity matches on the day was Swoboda, who was 2-0.  In addition to his win over Peru, he also teamed with junior Brady Williams to win 6-4, 6-4 over West Lafayette at No. 2 doubles.

Kody Vest was 2-1 on the day, winning once at No. 1 singles and once at No. 1 doubles in his first career doubles match.

Brady Williams finished 2-1 in varsity doubles on the day, winning over Kokomo and West Lafayette after dropping a third-set tiebreaker to Peru.  Junior Ben Miller was 1-1 at No. 1 doubles.

Tyce Dishman went 1-1, winning at No. 2 doubles over Kokomo and then falling at No. 3 singles to West Lafayette in his first singles action of the year.

Senior Owen Cupp, who has been the Eagles’ hottest player lately, went 1-2 against very tough competition Saturday.  He won 6-4, 6-3 in the opening round over Peru, then dropped a 3-6, 5-7 decision at No. 2 singles to Kokomo in a grueling match in round two.  For the final round, Owen stepped up to No. 1 singles against West Lafayette, and although he lost 0-6, 1-6 to all-state candidate Jasper Xiang, the move enabled Kody Vest to slide into doubles where he could help the Eagles sweep the doubles points.

Delta’s junior varsity also won the invitational championship on Saturday.

The JV version of the Kokomo Invitational was a different format and was held at Western High School.  Players from Delta, West Lafayette, Kokomo, Peru and Western were all entered into one of four flights: A singles, B singles, A doubles and B doubles.  Each flight had eight entrants. and three rounds were played to determine all eight positions.

Delta players won three of the four flights.

In B singles, freshman Roman Ashcraft went 3-0 for first place.  Two of his victories were come from behind efforts after droppiing the first set. Freshman Andrew Alexander was third at 2-1 and freshman Reid Cardemon was sixth at 1-2.

In A doubles, the three-man team of junior Ayden Mitchell, freshman Bryce Carmichael and junior Kaden Crist went 3-0 and won the flight.  The three-man team of junior John Atkinson, junior Alex Smith and freshman Graham Sieber went 2-1 and finished fourth.

In B doubles, junior Jacob Williams and freshman Owen Zacek won the championship with a 3-0 record.  The three-man squad of sophomore Maddox Weddle, freshman Kiptyn Berry and freshman Jensen Moody placed second at 2-1.

The only flight the Eagles did not win was A singles.  Senior James Root and sophomore Colten Cruea each went 2-1, with Root placing third and Cruea taking fifth.

In the JV event, Delta played seven third-set tiebreaks and won five of the seven.

Next up for Delta will be the annual match against Yorktown.  This match will be at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the DHS courts.

In addition to the action on the courts, the teams also will compete in the annual Toilet Paper Challenge.  This is for the Community Basket, a non-food bank that is part of The Jar community church in Muncie. The Community Basket helps serve needy families in our area.

The team that brings the most rolls of toilet paper wins the “Golden Plunger” traveling trophy.  Last year, Delta won the plunger with 823 rolls of TP.  Bring packages to the match where they will be collected on tables inside the shelter.

 

Complete Results

DELTA 4, PERU 1

Varsity Singles

1. Kody Vest won 6-3, 2-6, (10-6)
2. Owen Cupp won 6-4, 6-3
3. Luke Atkinson won 6-2, 6-1

Varsity Doubles

1. Brady Williams / Ben Miller lost 7-5, 5-7, (6-10)
2. Aaron Elliott / Kam Swoboda won 6-1, 6-1

DELTA 3, KOKOMO 2

Varsity Singles

1. Kody Vest lost 0-6, 4-6
2. Owen Cupp lost 3-6, 5-7
3. Luke Atkinson won 6-2, 6-3

Varsity Doubles

1. Brady Williams / Ben Miller won 6-2, 6-3
2. Aaron Elliott / Tyce Dishman won 6-1, 6-1

 

DELTA 3, WEST LAFAYETTE 2

Varsity Singles

1. Owen Cupp lost 0-6, 1-6
2. Luke Atkinson won 6-2, 6-4
3. Tyce Dishman lost 5-7, 0-6

Varsity Doubles

1. Kody Vest / Aaron Elliott won 6-1, 6-4
2. Brady Williams / Kam Swoboda won 6-4, 6-4

JV Singles

1. Kam Swoboda lost 4-6 to West Lafayette
2. Ben Miller lost 3-6 to West Lafayette

 

JUNIOR VARSITY INVITATIONAL

A Singles

1. , Colten Cruea (5th place) — lost to WL 2-4, 2-4; def. Kokomo 4-3, 4-2, def. Peru 4-0, 4-0
2. James Root (3rd place) — def. Peru 4-0, 4-2, lost to WL 4-0, 0-4, (3-10), def. Western 4-0, 4-2

B Singles

1. Roman Ashcraft (1st place) — def. Kokomo 1-4, 4-0, (10-3), def. WL 2-4, 4-1, (10-6), def. Kokomo 4-0, 4-2
2. Andrew Alexander (3rd place) — def. Western 2-4, 4-1, (10-8), lost to Kokomo 3-4, 4-0, (6-10), def. WL 4-0, 4-1
3. Reid Cardemon (6th place) — lost to Kokomo 1-4, 0-4, def. Western 4-0, 4-3, lost to Kokomo 2-4, 0-4

A Doubles

1. Kaden Crist, Bryce Carmichael, Ayden Mitchell — combined for first place with 3-0 reocrd
   1. Bryce/Kaden def. WL 4-0, 4-1
   2. Kaden/Ayden def. Western 4-1, 4-0
   3. Bryce/Ayden def. Western 0-4, 4-2, (10-5)
2. Alex Smith, John Atkinson , Graham Sieber — combined for fourth place with 2-1 record
   1. Graham/Alex lost to Western 1-4, 2-4
   2. John/Alex def. WL 4-1, 4-0
   3. John/Graham def. Peru 4-1, 4-0

B Doubles

1. Jacob Williams, Owen Zacek – took first place with 3-0 reocrd
   1. Jacob/Owen def.WL 4-0, 4-1
   2. Jacob/Owen def. Western 4-0, 4-1
   3. Jacob Owen def. Delta ((Kiptyn/Jensen) 4-3, 4-1
2. Kiptyn Berry, Jensen Moody, Maddox Weddle — combined for second place with 2-1 record
   1. Kiptyn/Maddox def. WL 4-3, 4-1
   2. Maddox/Jensen def. Kokomo 3-4, 40- (10-3)
   3. Kitpyn/Jensen lost to Delta (Jacob/Owen) 3-4, 1-4