INDIANAPOLIS- A 7-7 season in 2008 did not sit well at all for the four seniors on the Park Tudor boys’ tennis squad.
After all the Panthers program has high standards, with 13 combined boys and girls tennis titles under Coach Dave Heffern.
Matt Neal of Park Tudor returns a volley for the Panthers
The title count is now 14 after Park Tudor polished off a 19-2 season with a 3-2 victory over Bloomington South Saturday in the state tennis finals at North Central High School in Indianapolis.
Heffern said the biggest reason the Panthers were able to go from .500 to state champions is the players brought intensity every day.
“If you don’t practice hard, you won’t play well when it counts,” Heffern said. “They believed and they wanted it so badly.”
Heffern said the seniors took charge of the team, but contributions came from everyone.
“We are a deep team,” Heffern said. “If one guy doesn’t seem to be able to get it done, we’ve been able to pick each other up all year.”
Park Tudor notched a sweep of Concord in the quarterfinal round Friday, and then knocked out defending champion Center Grove 4-1 in a Saturday morning semifinal.
On the other side of the bracket, Bloomington South (18-1) edged Zionsville 3-2 Friday and then handed Munster its first loss with a 3-2 win in the other semifinal. It was the first championship appearance for Bloomington South.
In the title match, Bloomington South freshman Ronnie Schneider took control early of his No. 1 singles match against Sam Miles. Schneider never let Miles get any rhythm in the 6-2, 6-2 victory.
Brendan Tannenbaum was equally as dominant in No. 2 singles for Park Tudor. The sophomore improved to 21-5 on the season by pounding David Wong 6-1, 6-2.
It looked like the championship could be decided by doubles play.
The No. 2 doubles match was back-and-fourth early. Park Tudor’s Jack Miles and Sam Geier spilt the first six games with Donovan Thomas and Matt Helm. But then Miles and Geier seemed to turn it up to another gear.
Thomas and Helm couldn’t reach many of the hard balls hit by the Park Tudor duo. Miles and Geier won nine straight games to take the match 6-3, 6-0.
With No. 3 singles tied at a set apiece, the attention shifted to No. 1 doubles where Bloomington South’s Matt Acton and Ben Stowell had to win to keep their team in the title hunt.
They dropped the first set to Derek Reinbold and Matt Neal 6-3, and fell behind 3-0 in set two. Acton and Stowell cut into the lead, but never really pushed Reinbold and Neal, who clinched the state title with the 6-2 win in the second set.
“We are both seniors so it’s pretty big to end the year this way,” Neal said.
While nervous before the match Reinbold said the nerves went away when the match began.
“We just tried to play smart and play within our limits,” he said.
Bloomington South coach Joe Doyle said his team should be excited and proud about their season.
“We didn’t play scared and we didn’t lie down,” he said. “We competed everywhere. Hopefully this won’t be the last time we’re here, but if it is I’m proud of how the guys played.”
Doyle gave Park Tudor credit, but said his team hung tough.
“If a couple points in No. 1 or 2 doubles go the other way, it would have gotten interesting. If Wong doesn’t play for four hours yesterday, he would have had a little more juice left. We went after it and we did everything that we are supposed to do.”
Because it wasn’t necessary, the No. 3 singles match wasn’t finished. Park Tudor’s Kishan Shah retired, giving the match to Clayton Fletcher 3-6, 6-1. After the match, Shah was named this year’s Mental Attitude Award winner by the Indiana State High School Athletic Association.
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Stats
Singles
1. Ronnie Schneider of Bloomington South defeated Sam Miles of Park Tudor, 6-2, 6-2
2. Brendan Tannenbaum, PT, defeated David Wong, BS, 6-1, 6-2
3. Clayton Fletcher, BS, defeated Kishan Shah, PT, 3-6, 6-1 (Shah declined to continue playing after Park Tudor clinched the title)
Doubles
1. Derek Reinbold and Matt Neal, PT, defeated Matt Acton and Ben Stowell, BS, 6-3, 6-2
2. Jack Miles and Sam Geier, PT, defeated Donovan Thomas and Matt Helm, BS, 6-3, 6-0
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