Four years ago, when Denys Krushenytskyi came to the United States from Ukraine with his mother and younger brother to escape the growing war with Russia, he had never been exposed to tennis.

His performance Wednesday night in his first-ever varsity singles match was one of the highlights of Senior Night.

Denys played No. 4 varsity singles and gained a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Pendleton Heights senior Josiah Jackson.

Denys joked that it was his "best-ever varsity victory."  In fact, it was his first-ever varsity match after compiling a record of 48 wins, 16 losses in four years of JV competition.

Delta won the varsity match 7-0 against Pendleton, with seniors Tyce Dishman and Jason Ogle also winning their matches. A fourth senior, Grant Durkovich, missed the match due to illness.

Delta, ranked 6th, improved to 13-2 for the season and 5-0 in the Hoosier Heritage Conference.  With the victory, the Eagles clinched at least a share of first place in the HHC in their final year in that league.  Next year, Delta joins the Eastern Crossroads Conference.

Delta can wrap up an unbeaten conference season when the Eagles travel to Mt. Vernon on Monday. New Palestine currently is in second place in the HHC with one loss.

Also playing varsity for the first time in his career was senior Jason Ogle.  He played No. 3 varsity doubles with junior Roman Ashcraft.  They won the first set 6-1, then ran into some trouble in the second set.  However, they hung tough and won 6-1, 7-6.

Ogle started his DHS Tennis career with a 9-15 JV record as a freshman, but has won 38 matches and lost only 12 in the last three years.

The third senior to win on Senior Night has a much different story.  Tyce Dishman grew up around Delta Tennis, attending matches before his was in kindergarten to watch older brother Tate play for the Eagles.  Over the years he watched siblings Teaghan, Tannon and Tynan play varsity as well before building his own success.

Tyce partnered with sophomore Jackson Darby against Pendleton to earn a 6-0, 6-0 victory at No. 1 doubles.  This was the first time these friends ever played together in high school tennis.

Tyce raised his season record to 16-2 and now stands 63-16 as a four-year varsity players.  Add in a 9-1 JV record and he now has won a total of 72 matches out of the 89 times he has taken the court as an Eagle.

Moving up to No. 1 singles for the match was sophomore Charlie Vannatter.  He played one of his best matches of the season with a 6-0, 6-0 shellacking of Pendleton junior Josiah Davis.  Charlie made very few unforced errors and executed well from both the baseline and the front court.

Junior Luke Atkinson played No. 2 singles and also won 6-0, 6-0.  He improved to 16-2 for the season and has lost only five games in his last 17 sets!

Sophomore Brandon Grubbs, the usual No. 1 doubles partner with Tyce, instead switched over to No, 3 singles for this match.  He adapted easily, winning 6-1, 6-0 with crisp groundstrokes.

The longest match of the night came at No. 2 doubles, where Pendleton freshman Shuyu Seguchi made some outstanding plays. Freshman Easton Duckworth and sophomore Kiptyn Schwartz pulled out a third-set tiebreak to win 3-6, 6-4, (10-3) and preserve the team shutout.

Delta won the JV match 7-5 to improve their season record to 9-1.

The JV team hosts Eastern (Greentown) tonight at 5:30 p.m.

Both the varsity and the JV then have invitationals on Saturday.  The varsity plays in the Delta Invitational, playing Richmond first at 8:45 a.m. Saturday.  The JV competes at the Fort Wayne Carroll Invitational against Carroll and Homestead, starting at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Complete Results

Varsity

DELTA 7, PENDLETON HEIGHTS 0

Singles

1. Charlie Vannatter def. Josiah Davis, 6-0, 6-0
2. Luke Atkinson def. Nolan Dujmovich, 6-0, 6-0
3. Brandon Grubbs def. Landon Wortman, 6-1, 6-0
4. Denys Krushenytskyi def. Josiah Jackson, 6-3, 6-2

Doubles

1. Tyce Dishman / Jackson Darby def. Wade Paul / Logan Romine, 6-0, 6-0
2. Easton Duckworth / Kiptyn Schwartz def. Wagner Conway / Shuyu Seguchi, 3-6, 6-4, 10-3
3. Roman Ashcraft / Jason Ogle def. Austin Oster / Grady Roberts, 6-1, 7-6 (5)

JV

DELTA 7, PENDLETON HEIGHTS 5

Singles

1. Cooper Coutinho won 8-0
2. Jensen Moody won 8-5
3. Carson Mick lost 7-8
4. Hunter Reed lost 0-8

Doubles

1. Jacob Tokar / Owen Zacek won 8-3
2. Graham Hartman / Karson Preston won 8-2
3. Drew Durkovich / Kiptyn Berry won 8-4
4. Austin Carrigan / Hayden Case won 8-0
5. Jonah Swift / Saul Brown won 8-2
6. Stanley Hutchens / Teagon Condie lost 6-7
7. Denver Stover / Evan Lindburgh lost 2-8
8. Cohen Williams / Kohlton Ricks lost 1-6