The 7th-ranked Eagles beat DeKalb 4-1 in the opener, then shut out Indianapolis Cathedral 5-0 in the semifinals, before falling to 2nd-ranked Hamilton Southeastern 1-4 in the championship match.

DeKalb and Cathedral were barely out of the Top 30 rankings last week.  (Cathedral beat #27 Plainfield in the first round and is likely to return to the Top 30 rankings this week.)

The tourney resulted in many excellent performances for the Eagles as well as a few areas where continued improvement is needed.

Among the day’s highlights for the Eagles:

> No. 3 singles player Luke Atkinson gained the best win of his high school career with a 7-6, 6-0 victory over Hamilton Southeastern senior Brady Stump.  The HSE player was first team All-State Singles last season when he played No. 1 singles for the Royals. (HSE has an outstanding freshman at 1s this season and is loaded throughout the lineup from top to bottom.)  Atkinson went 3-0 on the day and is now 8-2 for the season.

> No. 1 singles player Jackson Darby romped to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Cathedral freshman standout Malachi Edwards.  This was an impressive score considering that the Cathedral player had a three-set loss to No. 1 Carmel at the top singles position earlier this season.  Darby then played HSE star Abhi Manikandan tight in the first set (losing 4-6), before Manikandan pulled away in the second set. But on the heels of a three-set win over all-state player Nathan Roberts earlier this week, Darby continues to post some excellent results.

> No. 2 singles player Charlie Vannatter got a chance to play No. 1 singles against DeKalb in the opening match and competed well against All-State candidate Oliver Derrow. Vannatter led 5-4 in the second set before falling 2-6, 5-7 ​in a two-hour match.  In the second round, Vannatter gained a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Cathedral’s Luke Langfeldt, who also lost a three-set match to Carmel earlier this season.

> Sophomore Brandon Grubbs played singles for the first time this season and rolled to a 6-0, 6-0 victory over DeKalb.  The DeKalb player was unbeaten for the season prior to that match, including a win over state-ranked FW Carroll.  Grubbs is 8-2 for the season, including 7-2 at No. 1 doubles with Tyce Dishman.  Tyce is 8-2 overall, also.

> Junior Owen Zacek played the first varsity match of his career at No. 2 doubles and beat Cathedral with freshman partner Easton Duckworth. They won the opening set 6-2, dropped the second set 3-6, and then regrouped for a dominating 10-2 tiebreak score. Owen has worked hard to get that opportunity.

> Easton Duckworth went 2-1 on the day with three different partners!  In the opening round he played with Tyce Dishman at No. 1 doubles against DeKalb and they won 6-1, 6-1.  He then partnered with Zacek in round two for the victory over Cathedral at No. 2 doubles and ended the day by teaming with sophomore Kiptyn Schwartz in a 4-6, 4-6 loss to a strong Hamilton Southeastern team.  Duckworth is 7-3 this season in doubles with those partners as well as junior Roman Ashcraft.

> Ashcraft and Schwartz teamed up to beat DeKalb in the opening round.  Ashcraft is now 4-0 at the varsity level this season.  Ashcraft, Schwartz, Zacek and Duckworth all have helped Delta go 7-3 this fall at No. 2 doubles with the losses only to Top 15 teams: HSE, Jasper and Culver.

> In JV action Saturday, Cooper Coutinho went 3-0 with victories over Plainfield, Homestead and Hamilton Southeastern.  Denys Krushenytskyi went 4-0 with singles wins over DeKalb and Carroll (twice) as well as a doubles win over Cathedral.  Roman Ashcraft teamed with Kiptyn Schwartz to beat Cathedral and teamed with Owen Zacek in a loss to a strong HSE team.  Jacob Tokar beat Carroll and Cathedral in doubles matches and lost 2-6 in a doubles match with Owen Zacek against two HSE players who usually play varsity.

The tournament also helped crystallize a few areas in which continued improvement is needed for the Eagles as the season continues.  Chief among those areas is the ability to stay strong mentally throughout the ups and downs of matches and make needed mid​-match adjustments.  Better physical conditioning is another area that needs to be sharpened over the next two weeks.  A final target area will be a more focused and competitive practice environment.  None of these areas are glaring weaknesses, but sometimes “good is the enemy of great.”

The Eagles currently are 5-2 in duals, losing only to 3rd-ranked South Bend St. Joseph and 2nd-ranked HSE.  Delta has finished ruinner-up in its two tournaments, placing behind 4th-ranked Ziosnville at the Jeffersonville Invite and behind 2nd-ranked HSE at the Carroll Invite.

Upcoming state-ranked opponents include matches against Kokomo, West Lafayette and FW Carroll in the next 10 days.

This week’s schedule for Delta includes a hom​e match vs. New Castle (9-1 record) on Tuesday at 5:30, an away match at Lapel on Wednesday at 5:15, and a JV only match against Yorktown at home on Thursday at 5:​45  The Eagles then will play in the Kokomo Invitational on Saturday against Kokomo, West Lafayette and Peru.

Complete Results

Varsity

DELTA 4, DEKALB 1

Singles

1. Vannatter lost to Derrow, 2-6, 5-7
2. Atkinson def. Knepper, 6-0, 6-0
3. Grubbs def. Schlatter, 6-0, 6-0

Doubles 

1. Dishman / Duckworth def. ​V​ince / Post, 6-1, 6-1
2. Ashcraft / Schw​artz def. ​K​insey / Purdy, 6-2, 6-0

Varsity

DELTA 5, CATHEDRAL 0

Singles

1. Darby def. Edwards 6-0, 6-1
2. Vannatter def. Langfeldt 6-2, 6-4
3. Atkinson def. Mathenge, 6-2, 6-2

Doubles 

1. Dishman / Grubbs def. Wernke, J. Whelan, 6-0, 7-5
2. Duckworth / Zacek def. A. Whelan /Luna 6-2, 3-6, 10-2

Varsity

DELTA 1, HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 4

Singles

1. Darby lost to Manikandan, 4-6, 1-6
2. Vannatter lost to P. Stump, 1-6, 1-6
3. Atkinson def. B. Stump, 7-6 (3), 6-0

Doubles 

1. Dishman / Grubbs lost to Holderman / Foust, 1-6, 2-6
2. Duckworth / Schwartz lost to Osswald / Werz, 4-6, 4-6