For the first time in school history, Delta competed against South Bend St. Joseph in a boys’ tennis dual match Saturday morning.

The match lived up to the hype as 3rd-ranked St. Joe edged 7th-ranked Delta 3-2 in an exciting match at the Culver Academies.

St. Joe has finished in the Final Four of the IHSAA State Finals in each of the past two seasons. The Huskies return six of seven varsity players from a year ago. So far this year they are 8-1 in duals with their only loss being a tight 3-2 decision to #1 ranked Carmel.

Every position was competitive. St. Joe benefitted from an edge in experience and age, which may have been the difference in the outcome.

The Huskies used a lineup of four seniors, two juniors and a sophomore.

The Eagles countered with one senior, two juniors, three sophomores and a freshman.

St. Joe features what many consider to be the best singles lineup in the state.  The Huskies are 26-1 in singles matches this season, including winning two of the three positions last week against Carmel. Brothers Oliver Hix and Jacob Hix play the top two spots and both were First Team All-State Singles a year ago.

Delta sophomore Jackson Darby battled well at No. 1 singles before dropping a 4-6, 2-6 decision to Oliver Hix.  In his three years of HS tennis, the South Bend player is now 43-2 and hasn’t lost since his freshman year.

Delta sophomore Charlie Vannatter also competed hard against physical senior Jacob Hix, who played No. 1 singles in the 2024 and 2025 seasons but now is at No. 2 singles.  The final score was 3-6, 1-6.

South Bend’s Jaxson Ashfeld is the third member of their vaunted singles lineup.  He is 20-2 in his high school career and has victories this season over Miles Davidson of Carmel and Parker Paramoure of Westfield and has not lost a set yet this year.  Delta’s Luke Atkinson battled to a 5-5 tie in the opening set before Ashfeld took the set 5-7.  Then the second set followed a similar pattern with the boys tied at 3-3 before Ashfeld pulled away to a 3-6 decision.

Delta collected its two points by sweeping the doubles.

Senior Tyce Dishman and sophomore Brandon Grubbs cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over senior Ben Brady and junior Benny Griffin at No. 1 doubles.

Freshman Easton Duckworth and junior Roman Ashcraft dropped the opening set to seniors Cole Halfpenny and Jack Mattison, but then rallied for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.  Halfpenny and Mattison had played No. 1 doubles in five of the Huskies’ first eight matches, but were at No. 2 doubles in this match.

Delta dominated the JV match, winning all eight positions by a combined score of 62-5 in games.

The two schools plan to continue this dual match series again next season at Culver.

Complete Results

Varsity

SOUTH BEND ST. JOSEPH 3, DELTA 2

Singles

1. Jackson Darby lost to Oliver Hix, 4-6, 2-6
2. Charlie Vannatter lost to Jacob Hix, 3-6, 1-6
3. Luke Atkinson lost to Jaxson Ashfeld, 5-7, 3-6

Doubles

1. Tyce Dishman / Brandon Grubbs def. Ben Brady / Benny Griffin, 6-1, 6-3
2. Easton Duckworth / Roman Ashcraft def. Jack Mattison / Cole Halfpenny, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4

JV

DELTA 8, SOUTH BEND ST. JOSEPH 0

Doubles

1. Kiptyn Schwartz / Owen Zacek won 8-0
2. Jacob Tokar / Denys Krushenytskyi won 8-0
3. Cooper Coutinho / Jensen Moody won 8-3
4. Drew Durkovich / Karson Preston won 6-0
5. Carson Mick / Austin Carrigan won 8-0
6. Graham Hartman / Kiptyn Berry won 8-0
7. Grant Durkovich / Hayden Case won 8-2
8. Jason Ogle / Stanley Hutchens won 8-0