Senior Aaron Elliott returns serve as junior Tyce Dishman stays alert during their No. 1 doubles victory over Homestead on Saturday. They will compete in the State Doubles finals. (Photo by Paige Hayes)
Delta entered Saturday’s semistate boys’ tennis match against No. 2 ranked Homestead hoping to sweep doubles and pull off a big upset in singles.
The 13th-ranked Eagles almost did it.
In the end, Homestead (24-1) survived 3-2 to advance to the IHSAA State Finals next weekend.
Delta finishes with a 21-3 record, losing only to Homestead twice and to fourth-ranked Culver Military Academy.
The season will extend for the No. 1 doubles team of senior Aaron Elliott and junior Tyce Dishman. They won 6-4, 6-4 for their 18th consecutive victory together. Since they went 5-0 in their sectional, regional and semi-state matches, they get to advance to the IHSAA Doubles State Finals on Friday, Oct. 24 at Park Tudor High School in Indianapolis.
Elliott and Dishman have played the majority of the past three seasons together. They were No. 2 doubles for much of the 2023 and 2024 seasons before moving up to No. 1 doubles this season.
Elliott, who has a team-best record of 23-3 this fall, has won 20 straight matches and has 54 career victories, which ties former DHS Tennis standout Josh Cooper on the all-time list.
Dishman improved to 22-4 with his 17th straight win. He was able to avenge an earlier season loss to the same Homestead team at No. 1 doubles. Dishman now has 47 career varsity victories, two short of brother and assistant coach Tate Dishman’s total with one more season to go.
Tyce becomes the fifth of the five Dishman siblings to compete in the tennis state finals, either as part of a team or individually.
Oldest brother Tate competed in the 2010 team state finals as a senior at No. 1 doubles with partner Ethan Grove.
Sister Teaghan reached the semifinals of the State Doubles championships in 2015 with partner Kaylin Gibson.
Brother Tannon played No. 3 singles on a state finalist team in 2016.
Sister Tynan was State Doubles runner-up with partner Maggie Manor in 2021. Tynan also played in the 2018 and 2019 team state finals.
There will be from 8 to 10 doubles teams left in the finals, but the matchups will not be determined until after the Team State and the Individual Singles and Doubles Regional matches are completed this coming weekend.
This will be Delta’s seventh time in boys’ tennis history to compete in the State Doubles finals.
Also winning in doubles on Saturday was the No. 2 doubles team of senior Brady Williams and freshman Brandon Grubbs. They dominated in a 6-2, 6-2 victory.
Williams and Grubbs played together only eight times this fall, but each put together varsity records of 19 wins, 3 losses. Williams was 7-1 with Grubbs (losing only to Zionsville in three sets), and was 9-2 with Ben Miller and 3-0 with Aaron Elliott. Grubbs was 7-1 with Williams, 4-0 with Ben Miller, 3-2 with Tyce Dishman, 1-0 with Aaron Elliott, and 4-0 at varsity No. 3 singles.
Sweeping doubles against Homestead was Part A of Saturday’s plan, while finding an upset victory in singles was Part B.
On Sept. 6, Homestead had beaten Delta 4-1 and had flexed its muscles by outscoring the Eagles 36-7 in singles.
Homestead’s singles lineup is epic.
No. 1 singles is Joe Garrean, a freshman who is one of the top contenders to win the State Singles championship and is a lock for All-State Singles.
His brother, Ben Garrean, is a senior who was All-State Singles last season after reaching the semifinals of the State Singles finals. He moved to No. 2 singles this season when his younger brother displaced him at the top position.
And No. 3 singles is Eric Ji, a senior with a strong resume of his own. Ji won the State Doubles championship as a sophomore and then was All-State Singles as a junior at No. 2 singles. He bumped down to No. 3 due to the skill of the Garrean brothers.
Trying to find a way to win a singles point was the challenge for Delta’s young but talented singles lineup of freshman Jackson Darby, freshman Charlie Vannatter and sophomore Luke Atkinson.
All entered with good game plans and a fighting spirit.
The Garrean brothers simply were too talented on this day as each ripped massive forehands to control their matches.
Freshman Jackson Darby smacks his forehand against Homestead. (Photo by Paige Hayes)
At No. 1 singles, Darby lost 1-6, 1-6 to finish his first season of high school tennis with a 17-9 record against a rugged schedule. Darby was a hero in the regional victory over 11th-ranked Westfield when he won a three-setter in the final match on the court.
Freshman Charlie Vannatter leaves the court as he puts everything he has into a forehand groundstroke during Saturday’s match at Homestead. (Photo by Paige Hayes)
At No. 2 singles, Vannatter dropped an 0-6, 1-6 decision although he fought hard to execute his plan. Ben Garrean’s outstanding serve was a handful in addition to his strong groundstrokes. Vannatter ended his first season with a 20-7 record, including a 4-1 mark in three-set matches.
Sophomore Luke Atkinson lines up a big forehand groundstroke in his No. 3 singles battle at Homestead. (Photo by Paige Hayes)
At No. 3 singles, Atkinson saved perhaps his best match of the season for the last one. He had lost to Eric Ji 1-6, 0-6 in the regular season, but this time Luke jumped to a 3-0 lead in the opening set. Ji then took a four-minute bathroom break before returning to the courts. Ji fought back to win the opening set 6-4. But Atkinson wasn’t deterred. He built a 2-0 lead in the second set as well, forcing Ji to make another comeback. Ji pulled ahead 4-2, but Atkinson dug deep and knotted the score at 4-4. Ji finally won 6-4 to end the match.
Atkinson completed his sophomore season with a 19-5 record, giving him 37 career varsity wins after just two seasons of tennis.
As a team, Delta finished 21-3 and won the Hoosier Heritage Conference title for the first time since 2022 as well as the sectional title for the 33rd straight season and the regional title for the first time since 2022. The Eagles have a chance to crack into the top 10 state rankings for the first time since 2015 when the final poll is released in late October. They are 13th right now, but they should move up at least two slots as they beat No. 11 Westfield in the regional while No. 12 Jasper lost in the regional to 16th-ranked Barr Reeve.
The JV team finished with a 14-2 record. This was the largest boys’ team in school history with 37 players.
Varsity Season Records for Delta players by grade:
Seniors
Aaron Elliott 23-3 * (still playing)
Brady Williams 19-3
Ben Miller 13-3
Kaden Crist 1-0
John Atkinson 1-0
Ayden Mitchell 1-0
Jacob Williams 1-0
Juniors
Tyce Dishman 22-4 * (still playing)
Sophomores
Luke Atkinson 19-5
Freshmen
Brandon Grubbs 19-3
Charlie Vannatter 20-7
Jackson Darby 17-8
JV Season Records for Delta players by grade:
Seniors
John Atkinson 11-1
Kaden Crist 13-3
Ayden Mitchell 12-6
Jacob Williams 8-5
Ben Miller 4-1
Brady Williams 1-1
Juniors
Maddox Weddle 16-2
Denys Krushenytskyi 15-2
Grant Durkovich 15-2
Colten Cruea 15-4
Jason Ogle 14-4
Tyce Dishman 1-0
Sophomores
Bryce Carmichael 18-3
Jensen Moody 15-2
Kiptyn Berry 15-3
Roman Ashcraft 15-4
Andrew Alexander 16-5
Reid Cardemon 13-6
Owen Zacek 14-7
Graham Sieber 1-2 * missed most of season due to injury
Hunter Reed 1-10
Freshmen
Jacob Tokar 16-0
Kiptyn Schwartz 18-4
Drew Durkovich 13-5
Cooper Coutinho 12-5
Graham Hartman 12-6
Stanley Hutchens 11-4
Hayden Case 10-6
Austin Carrigan 8-6
Carson Mick 7-6
Jaylen Tracy 5-1
Jonah Swift 4-9
Brandon Grubbs 2-0
Complete Results
HOMESTEAD 3, DELTA 2
Singles
- Jackson Darby lost to Joe Garrean, 1-6, 1-6
- Charlie Vannatter lost to Ben Garrean, 0-6, 1-6
- Luke Atkinson lost to Eric Ji, 4-6, 4-6
Doubles
- Tyce Dishman/Aaron Elliott def. Will Miller/Gabe Pasalich, 6-4, 6-4
- Brady Williams/Brandon Grubbs def. Shamyant Boda/Connor Cook, 6-2, 6-2