If one point could tell the story of Saturday's semi-state championship match for Delta, it would be this one.
Midway through the second set of his No. 3 singles match, junior Luke Atkinson moved to his left to hit a backhand, then had to run off the court to his right to track down a sharp-angled forehand. As Luke quickly recovered back into position, his Penn opponent directed his next shot back behind Luke to his right. Luke put on the brakes and stretched back to his right to save the ball -- and in the process fell to the ground. His opponent moved forward and placed the next ball into the open court, assuming it would be a winning shot. But like a Friday the 13th horror movie killer who refuses to die, Luke got off the ground and ran the ball down to stay alive in the point. A couple of shots later the Penn player missed, giving Luke the day's biggest hustle point.
The scrappy point was typical of the battles that took place on multiple courts as the two teams fought hard from start to finish.
Atkinson (24-3 this season) went on to win 6-4, 6-3 to clinch the day's third point, giving Delta the IHSAA Semi-State Championship on the Homestead courts in Fort Wayne.
Sixth-ranked Delta (22-2) earned a 5-0 victory over 10th-ranked Penn (24-2). The two traditional tennis powers from the northern half of the state had never met in a dual match before. On this day, the Eagles won every match in straight sets, although very little came easily.
Delta advances to the IHSAA State Finals for the sixth time in boys' tennis history and the first time since 10 years ago in 2016.
Delta girls' tennis also has reached the State Finals six times, including this past spring when the Eagles finished in the Final Four. This is the first time that Delta has ever completed in the Team State Finals in both girls' and boys' tennis in the same calendar year.
And they have done it by knocking off several of Indiana's top programs.
For the girls in the spring, the Eagles beat #10 Westfield, #18 Homestead and #9 Munster before falling in the Final Four to #3 Carmel in a close battle.
For the boys this fall, they have beaten #11 Westfield and #10 Penn in the past two matches to reach the State Finals.
The quarterfinal matches will be played Friday at 10 a.m. at North Central High School courts.
Here are the pairings:
#3 Center Grove (22-2) vs. #9 Jasper (18-3)
#6 Delta (22-2) vs. Evansville Memorial (16-3)
#5 South Bend St. Joseph (21-1) vs. #14 Fort Wayne Carroll (22-2)
#1 Hamilton Southeastern (19-2) vs. #2 Zionsville (20-1)
The semifinal matches also will be played Friday, with a start time likely to be either 2:00 p.m. or 3:00 p.m., depending on the length of the morning matches.
Delta controlled both doubles matches on Saturday against Penn.
At No. 1 doubles, senior Tyce Dishman and sophomore Brandon Grubbs were the first to finish as they blitzed Penn's Aaron Yoon and Will Denniston, 6-3, 6-2. Dishman and Grubbs improved to 25-2 for the season. Yoon reached the Final Four of the State Doubles last year with partner Josh Weaver, who moved to No. 2 singles this season.
At No. 2 doubles, junior Roman Ashcraft and freshman Easton Duckworth won 6-3, 6-4 over Aaron Zhang and Maxwell Shook. The Penn duo entered with a 22-0 record and had not dropped a set all season. But Ashcraft and Duckworth led from start to finish and improved to 11-1 together. Overall, Duckworth is 20-4 this fall while Ashcraft is 16-1. With additional contributions from sophomore Kiptyn Schwartz (10-3) and junior Owen Zacek (2-0), the Eagles are 23-4 in the No. 2 doubles position.
After Delta had won both doubles matches and Atkinson had sealed the team victory with his win at No. 3 singles, there was still work to do on the top two singles courts.
At No. 1 singles, sophomore Jackson Darby extended his winning streak to 14 straight matches with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Penn sophomore Dylan Albert. Darby raised his record to 21-5. During his streak, he has won in straight sets over several strong players, including Penn's Albert as well as Westfield's Ajay Prasanna, Richmond's Xander Harrick, and Kokomo's Micah Taflinger, who went three sets with Zionsville in the semi-state.
At No. 2 singles, sophomore Charlie Vannatter put the exclamation point on the 5-0 shutout by rallying for a 7-5, 6-2 victory over hard-hitting Josh Weaver. Vannatter trailed 2-5 in the opening set, but he stayed committed to his game plan and rattled off 11 of the final 13 games to win the match. Vannatter improved to 22-5 and has won 16 of his last 17 matches.
Delta's last two wins have been over a couple of Indiana's biggest schools. Westfield has 3,064 students and Penn is even larger with 3,475 students. For perspective, Penn has more freshmen (890) than Delta has total students (826).
Delta's next opponent will be the smallest school still alive in the tournament. Evansville Memorial, a Catholic private school, has 658 students and an annual tuition of about $8,000 per student. Evansville Memorial has won 20 IHSAA State championships, including six in girls' tennis and three in baseball, with the first coming in 1978 when future New York Yankees star Don Mattingly played for Memorial.
Evansville Memorial has a long tradition in tennis but is not ranked among the state's Top 30 schools this season. Memorial has a 16-3 record with its losses to 9th-ranked Jasper (twice) and 13th-ranked Barr-Reeve. Memorial has played well in recent matches with its last three postseason wins (Castle, Gibson Southern and Providence) all being over teams that were state-ranked at one time this season.
Compete Results
HOMESTEAD SEMI-STATE
Delta 5, Penn 0
Singles
- Jackson Darby def. Dylan Albert, 6-4, 6-3
- Charlie Vannatter def. Josh Weaver, 7-5, 6-2
- Luke Atkinson def. Harrison Striegel, 6-3, 6-4
Doubles
- Tyce Dishman / Brandon Grubbs def. Aaron Koon / Will Denniston, 6-3, 6-2
- Easton Duckworth / Roman Ashcraft def. Aaron Zhang / Maxwell Shook, 6-3, 6-4
