It didn’t take long for freshmen Jackson Darby, Charlie Vannatter and Brandon Grubbs to introduce themselves to high school tennis.
For the first time in the long history of Delta HS boys’ tennis, three freshmen are in the varsity lineup in the same season. Their impact helped the Eagles to a tight fourth-place finish in the power-packed Jeffersonville Invitational over the weekend.
Delta scored 27 points for its highest point total since 2018, which was the last time the Eagles won the tournament.
Zionsville, which enters this season as one of the top 5 teams in the state, won this year’s tournament with 32 points. Second place went to Guerin Catholic (31), followed by Jasper (30), Delta (27), Columbus North (24), Bloomington North (20), New Albany (14) and Jeffersonville (2).
Zionsville, Guerin, Jasper and Columbus North all finished among the top 10 teams in the state last year, making this tournament the toughest one in Indiana on the opening weekend of the season.
Jackson Darby made an immediate impact by going 2-1 and placing third at No. 1 singles. He beat Zionsville in the opening round in a three-hour slugfest, 6-0, 3-6, 7-5. After losing to Columbus North in the semifinals, he beat Bloomington North for third place in another tough match where both players battled cramping issues.
At No. 2 singles, Charlie Vannatter also placed third with a 2-1 record. He won 6-4, 6-4 over Jasper in the final round after beating New Albany and then losing to Guerin.
The team’s third freshman, Brandon Grubbs, shared time with seniors Ben Miller and Brady Williams at No. 2 doubles. The seniors got things started with a dominating win over Jeffersonville in the first round. Grubbs and Miller then rallied to beat Columbus North 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the semifinals. Grubbs and Williams teamed up in the finals and came up a little short in a 5-7, 6-4, 2-6 result to Zionsville for a runner-up flight finish.
At No. 3 singles, sophomore Luke Atkinson went 2-1 for fourth place. He lost a heartbreaker in the opening round, falling 6-2, 5-7, 6-7 in three hours to Jasper. Luke then won 6-0, 6-0 in both of his Saturday matches against Guerin and New Albany.
At No. 1 doubles, senior Aaron Elliott and junior Tyce Dishman placed sixth with a 1-2 record. Both of their losses were in three-set matches, losing to Guerin (6-3, 3-6, 3-6) in the opening round and falling to Columbus North (6-7, 6-4, 5-7) in the final round. Aaron and Tyce beat Jeffersonville (6-0, 6-1).
Altogether, the varsity won 9 matches and lost 6. This was a huge improvement from a year ago when the Eagles won 5 and lost 10 .
Delta won the tournament each year from 2001 through 2006. The Eagles’ only championship since then has been 2018.
The JV team posted some impressive results over the weekend, also. The Eagles finished in second place with a 10-5 match record. Zionsville won with 41 points, followed by Delta with 30, Jasper 26, Columbus North 24, Guerin 20, Bloomington North 17, New Albany 9 and Jeffersonville 8.
Kaden Crist and Bryce Carmichael won the flight championship at No. 1 doubles. They went 3-0, including an 8-3 victory over Zionsville in the final round.
Colten Cruea went 2-1 at No. 1 singles for third place.
Roman Ashcraft was runner-up at No. 2 singles with a 2-1 record.
Owen Zacek and Andrew Alexander combined for seventh place at No. 3 singles with a 1-2 record.
Ayden Mitchell, Graham Sieber and Kiptyn Schwartz combined to finish as runner-up at No. 2 doubles with a 2-1 record.
In addition to the varsity and JV play, extra JV matches were held at Clarksville HS courts. Twenty additional Delta players gained experience at that site, with everyone playing at least two matches. Competing against players from Floyd Central, Lanesville, Clarksville and Jeffersonville, the Eagles won 27 matches and lost only four!
After all the tennis was over, the team members and families returned to the tennis complex at Jeffersonville HS for a pizza party and cornhole tournament. There were 43 teams competing in the blind-draw cornhole event on 15 sets of boards.
The champions were freshman Cooper Coutinho and parent Derek Mitchell. Coutinho needed to make his final toss to clinch the victory, and with everyone watching he came through with a perfect toss right through the hole to eliminate head coach Tim Cleland and parent Adam Atkinson. Other semifinalist teams were players Brady Williams and Colten Cruea and players Ayden Mitchell and Stanley Hutchens. The consolation champions were players Hayden Case and Kiptyn Schwartz and runners-up were player Brandon Grubbs and parent Ryan Vannatter.
The group then took the annual bridge walk over the Ohio River from Indiana into Kentucky.
Thank you to assistant coaches Tate Dishman, Bob Darby and Shane Hartman and to our managers and all the families who made the trip. The managers showed great leadership by organizing the pizza party and helping to do the laundry late Friday night at a 24-hour laundromat. Also exhibiting excellent leadership at the cornhole tournament were Colten Cruea and Hunter Reed on the microphone. Daniel Tokar provided leadership at the extra JV site with his organization of an intrasquad singles tournament.
The team moves on to the next challenge, which is a Hoosier Heritage Conference match against New Palestine today (Monday) at 6 p.m. at Delta. New Pal defeated Delta 4-1 last year.
Complete Results
Varsity scores
Zionsville 32
Guerin Catholic 31
Jasper 30
Delta 27
Columbus North 24
Bloomington North 20
New Albany 14
Jeffersonville 2
No. 1 singles = Jackson Darby 2-1 (third)
No. 2 singles = Charlie Vannatter 2-1 (third)
No. 3 singles = Luke Atkinson 2-1 (fourth)
No. 1 doubles = Aaron Elliott/Tyce Dishman 1-2 (sixth)
No. 2 doubles = Ben Miller/Brady Williams/Brandon Grubbs 2-1 (runner-up)
JV scores
Zionsville 41
Delta 30
Jasper 26
Columbus North 24
Guerin Catholic 20
Bloomington North 17
New Albany 9
Jeffersonville 8
No. 1 singles = Colten Cruea 2-1 (third)
No. 2 singles = Roman Ashcraft 2-1 (runner-up)
No. 3 singles = Owen Zacek and Andrew Alexander 1-2 (seventh)
No. 1 doubles = Kaden Crist/Bryce Carmichael 3-0 (first)
No. 2 doubles = Ayden Mitchell/Graham Sieber/Kiptyn Schwartz 2-1 (runner-up)
Extra JV site
3-0 record = Maddox Weddle, Daniel Tokar, Drew Durkovich, Jason Ogle, Jensen Moody, Kiptyn Berry, Austin Carrigan
3-1 record = Reid Cardemon
2-0 record = Jacob Tokar, Jacob Williams, Grant Durkovich, Stanley Hutchens, Cooper Coutinho, Jaylen Tracy
2-1 record = Hayden Case, Graham Hartman,
1-1 record = Denys Krushenytskyi, Carson Mick, Jonah Swift
0-2 record = Hunter Reed