Something pretty rare in the world of Delta Tennis happened Wednesday night.
For the first time since 2017, the Eagles won at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles but lost a varsity match. (That 2017 match was against Hamilton Southeastern when current assistant coach Tannon Dishman won at No. 1 doubles with his partner Joel Ashman and the Eagles also won at No. 1 singles with Jason Wegener.)
Last night, Fort Wayne Carroll, ranked 19th in the state, won 3-2 over Delta in the neutral site match at Norwell High School. Carroll improved to 14-3 while Delta now stands 9-5 for the fall.
This was the 15th dual match during the past two seasons that has been settled by a 3-2 score. The Eagles own a 10-5 record in those 15 tight matches but came up short in this one.
At No. 1 singles, senior Kody Vest demonstrated his willpower as he dug deep for a 6-4, 7-6 (2) victory over Carroll’s Andrew Jamison, who is in the conversation for All-State Singles with many good results this season. Despite his painful knees, Kody grinded out long, tough points and gritted out a victory. It was the best victory of his high school career. He has won six of his last seven matches.
The Eagles also prevailed at No. 1 doubles. Juniors Brady Williams and Ben Miller started quickly with a 6-1 opening set, then hung on for a 7-5 win in the second set against Carroll’s Sam Mettler and Sam Nietert.
Picking up the third point proved elusive for the Eagles. The best chance came at No. 2 doubles. Junior Aaron Elliott and sophomore Tyce Dishman came up short in a streaky match. They dropped the first set 2-6, then built a 5-2 lead in the second set and seemed on their way to a decisive third-set tiebreak. But Carroll’s Alex Holley and Jack Jones rallied to win four straight games and then prevailed in a tiebreak to win the match, 6-2, 7-6 (4).
Carroll won easier at No. 2 and No. 3 singles. Senior Owen Cupp lost 4-6, 1-6, and freshman Luke Atkinson fell 1-6, 2-6.
The Eagles won the JV match 7-3 with strong play at several positions.
In singles, James Root and Colten Cruea played the same opponent. Root won 8-5; Cruea lost in a tiebreak 7-8 (3).
In doubles, two Delta teams played each Carroll duo.
At No. 1 doubles, Ayden Mitchell/Bryce Carmichael gained an 8-1 victory, and Kam Swoboda/Kaden Crist won 8-5.
At No. 2 doubles, both Delta teams won 8-3. They were Graham Sieber/Roman Ashcraft and John Atkinson/Alex Smith.
At No. 3 doubles, the Eagles lost twice. Jacob Williams/Owen Zacek fell 6-8, and Rylan Oliver /Andrew Alexander lost 5-8.
And at No. 4 doubles, Daniel Tokar/Reid Cardemon gained an 8-1 win, while Jensen Moody/Kiptyn Berry won 8-3.
The Eagle JV team now stands 7-1-1 for the fall. The JV will compete at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in the Peru JV Invitational. That field includes Culver Academies, Huntington North, Peru and Delta.
The next varsity match will be Senior Night next Wednesday at home against conference rival Pendleton Heights. Four seniors — Vest, Cupp, Swoboda and Root — will be honored at 4:30 p.m. prior to the match.
New Palestine leads the conference with a 6-0 record. Mt. Vernon is 4-0, while Delta stands in third place currently at 4-1. New Pal and Mt. Vernon play each other next week. Delta and Mt. Vernon then clash in the final week of the regular season.