When high school athletes prepare well, play smart, and truly believe in themselves, just about anything can happen.

The amazing postseason run of the 2026 Delta girls’ tennis team finally came to an end Friday afternoon in the IHSAA State Final Four.  No. 3 Carmel topped No. 15 Delta 4-1 in a tantalizingly close match, one in which it seemed at times that the Eagles just might find a way to advance to the State championship match for the first time in school history.

Senior Stella Sieber dominated her match at No. 3 singles, 6-1, 6-1. Playing in the postseason for the first time in her career, she put together a 7-0 record with wins over four state-ranked tennis powerhouses: Westfield, Homestead, Munster and Carmel.

But if Delta was going to beat Carmel, the Eagles were going to need victories at two additional positions.

Freshman Sophie Crabtree played for 1 hour and 40 minutes in just the first set at No. 1 singles, dropping a tiebreaker by a score of 8-6.  Several of the rallies extended beyond 30 hits with a couple points lasting 70 hits.  Carmel senior Olivia Widjaja displayed pinpoint accuracy on her lobs, consistently looping the ball within the last 3-4 feet of the baseline.

Meanwhile, the No. 2 doubles position matched up two teams who each were undefeated for the entire season.  Delta seniors Elizabeth Bamidele and Rowan Hinds were 26-0 while Carmel sophomore Shravya Pillutla and junior Brylie Price were 16-0.

Carmel jumped to a 3-0 lead in that match, but Bamidele and Hinds fought back to tie the set at 6-6 and force a tiebreaker.  Again, the Greyhounds won the tiebreaker, 7-2.  The second set followed a similar pattern as Carmel built a 5-2 lead, then Delta fought back to 5-4 before Carmel closed out a 6-4 victory.

The No. 2 singles match also was tight.  Senior Olivia Marshall fell behind 3-0 early before playing on nearly even terms with senior Alexia Widjaja over the next two hours.  The Carmel player, who had lost only once all season, eventually won 6-3, 6-4 in a gritty battle where Marshall gave everything she had to try to find a way to win.

Carmel’s No. 1 doubles team of seniors Gabby Hall and Maddie Littell also are unbeaten for the season as they will take a 23-0 record into the State Doubles finals this weekend.  Delta senior Kate Manor and junior Alexa Bratton were 24-2 entering the match and had been on a postseason streak with strong victories over Westfield and Homestead. The Eagles were overpowered by the Greyhounds 6-0 in the first set before climbing back into the match in the second set, eventually losing 6-3.

Once Carmel secured the team victory, the No. 1 singles match then also tilted in the Greyhounds’ favor as the mid-80s heat and the intensity of the match drained the last bit of energy from Crabtree.

Earlier in the day, the quarterfinals match of the IHSAA Team State Finals between 8th-ranked Munster and 15th-ranked Delta came down to the No. 3 singles court.

Delta senior Stella Sieber faced Munster sophomore Berlyn Compton in a contrast of styles.

Sieber’s defensive strategy was to use her feet, scramble to save balls, keep the returns deep, and lob over her opponent when in trouble.  Compton’s offensive strategy was to use her powerful serve and her quickness to set up aggressive forehands, opening up the court for winning shots. She also used her drop shot to pull Sieber into an uncomfortable position near the net.

In the end, Sieber won 6-1, 7-6 (1) to lift Delta to a 3-2 victory over Munster, earning the Eagles a berth in the Final Four.

All other courts ended quickly.  Munster’s twin sisters, Priyanka and Pallavi Tallamraju, gave up only one game at No. 1 and No. 2 singles in victories over Sophie Crabtree and Olivia Marshall.

Delta was nearly as dominant in doubles.  The teams of Kate Manor/Alexa Bratton and Elizabeth Bamidele/Rowan Hinds yielded a total of four games in their two victories.

The victory over Munster put Delta into the IHSAA Final Four for the fifth time in school history (three times with the girls and two times with the boys).  It also likely ensured that the Eagles would finish the year in the Top 10 rankings.

In the postseason, the Eagles gained victories over No. 8 Munster, No. 10 Westfield and No. 18 Homestead and played No. 3 Carmel tough before falling 1-4 in the semifinals.

Unlike almost all other states in the USA, Indiana still has a single-class system for tennis where all schools play in the same tournament, regardless of enrollment.  Carmel, with 5,216 students, is the state’s largest school by almost 1,000 students.  Delta, with 826 students, ranks 124th among the 310 schools with tennis programs.

This school year alone, Carmel has won seven state titles in girls tennis, girls track, girls swimming, boys swimming, girls cross country, boys tennis and boys soccer.  The Greyhounds have won at least one State championship for 40 straight years!

Delta’s season was successful on multiple levels:

• The season is not quite over for three seniors as Kate Manor, Rowan Hinds and Elizabeth Bamidele all will play in the Indiana North-South Senior All-Star match on Sunday, June 14 at Pendleton Community Health and Wellness indoor center.
• The Eagles raised a record total of $26,000 in their annual SmashCancer match with Yorktown.
• The Eagles earned Team Academic All-State with a combined varsity GPA of 3.94 and also had two Academic All-State selections: Marshall and Sieber, a long with a Lilly Scholarship recipient, Bamidele.
• The Eagles won sectional, regional and semistate titles.
• The Eagles went undefeated in the Hoosier Heritage Conference.
• The Eagles placed first in the Crawfordsville Invitational and the Plymouth JV Invitational.
• The Eagles honored about 30 teachers on Teacher Appreciation Day.
• All 35 players competed in at least seven matches.
• Senior Kate Manor finished as the all-time victory leader in DHS girls’ tennis history with 95 wins
• Senior Rowan Hinds finished second on the all-time wins list with 89 wins
• JV players Paige Hayes, Maddi Cox, Avery Gray and Mia Elliott all won 17 matches.  Elliott went undefeated for the entire season, primarily at No. 1 doubles.
• JV players Addy Anderson, Maddy Polito, Addy Anderson, Mylee Jones, Maggie Ratts, Addisen Condie, Ryanne Evans-Bales, Ilicia Ritter and Karlie Obenski all won at least 10 matches.

Complete Results

DELTA 3, MUNSTER 2

Singles

1. Sophie Crabtree lost to Priyanka Tallamraju, 0-6, 0-6
2. Olivia Marshall lost to Pallavi Tallamraju, 1-6, 0-6
3. Stella Sieber def. Berlyn Compton, 6-1, 7-6 (1)

Doubles

1. Kate Manor/Alexa Bratton def. Grace Nierengarten/Krisha Parikh, 6-2, 6-0
2. Elizabeth Bamidele/Rowan Hinds def. Lila Labahn/Sophia Zilz, 6-1, 6-1

DELTA 1, CARMEL 4

Singles

1. Sophie Crabtree lost to Olivia Widjaja, 6-7 (6), 1-6
2. Olivia Marshall lost to Alexia Widjaja, 3-6, 4-6
3. Stella Sieber def. Annie Mann, 6-1, 6-1

Doubles

1. Kate Manor/Alexa Bratton lost to Maidson Littell/Gabby Hall, 0-6, 3-6
2. Elizabeth Bamidele/Rowan Hinds lost to Brylie Price/Shravya Pallutia, 6-7 (2), 4-6