For the first time this season, rain interrupted our weekend tennis fun.  But it wasn’t a complete washout as varsity and reserve each got some action in Saturday before the rains arrived.

Varsity started the day against Peru at the annual Kokomo Invitational.

The Eagles won 5-0 with just one match being extended to a third set.

Charlie Vannatter rallied for a 3-6, 6-2 (10-1) victory at No. 2 singles. It was the third time in the past eight days that Charlie pulled out a third-set tiebreaker for the victory.

Jackson Darby and Luke Atkinson also won singles matches, and the doubles teams of Tyce Dishman/Aaron Elliott and Brady Williams/Brandon Grubbs also won.

Rain then forced the second round to move indoors to the Howard County Indoor Tennis Center. Delta rose to the occasion and played excellent tennis in a 5-0 shutout over West Lafayette.  The Eagles limited the Red Devils to just 10 total games in the match.  This match was unusual in that seven of the 14 varsity players were freshmen (three for Delta and four for West Lafayette).

Most impressive was Jackson Darby at No. 1 singles.  He overpowered Linden Ziang, 6-1, 6-1 in a battle of two talented freshmen.

Vannatter and Grubbs added blowout singles wins.  Elliott/Dishman and Williams/Ben Miller dominated doubles.

By that time the courts were dry at Kokomo High School, clearing the way for the championship match between 13th-ranked Delta and 27th-ranked Kokomo. After a couple of short rain interruptions, the teams again prepared to start when another round of rain arrived and ended the day.

Tentatively, the match between Delta and Kokomo will be rescheduled for Thursday, Sept. 18.

Delta improved to 9-2 overall for the season.  The Eagles will visit Yorktown on Tuesday, then play against 14th-ranked Fort Wayne Carroll on Wednesday at Norwell HS courts.

VARSITY RESULTS

DELTA 5, PERU 0

Singles

1. Jackson Darby def. Jacob Boswell,6-2, 6-2
2. Charlie Vannatter def. Riley Astrup, 3-6, 6-2, 10-1
3. Luke Atkinson def. Karter Schwartz, 6-0, 6-2

Doubles

1. Aaron Elliott/Tyce Dishman def. Jackson Boswell/Lucas Musser, 6-3, 6-2
2. Brady Williams/Brandon Grubbs def. Carter Musser/Rocket Schwartz, 6-2, 6-2

Extra

1. John Atkinson def. Kokomo, 6-5

 

DELTA 5, WEST LAFAYETTE 0

Singles

1. Jackson Darby def. Linden Xiang, 6-1, 6-1
2. Charlie Vannatter def. Colin Maloney, 8-1
3. Brandon Grubbs def. Jiu Jiu Liu, 6-0, 6-2

Doubles

1. Aaron Elliott/Tyce Dishman def. Zach Barash/Theo Yang, 6-0, 6-2
2. Ben Miller/Brady Williams def. Alex Liu/Cailean Chen, 6-1, 6-2

 

Delta also was involved in two separate JV events Saturday:

Noblesville JV Invite

The top JV played for the first time in the Noblesville JV event against many of the state’s biggest powerhouses.

In the first round, Delta won three of the five positions.

At No. 1 singles, Colten Cruea lost to Guerin Catholic, 2-4, 0-4.  He was playing Floyd Central in round two before being rained out.

At No. 2 singles, Roman Ashcraft beat Floyd Central 4-1, 4-0.  Ashcraft then led his semifinal match against Westfield 4-1, 1-0 when the rains hit.

At No. 3 singles, Owen Zacek beat Noblesville 4-2, 4-5, 10-3.

At No. 1 doubles, Kaden Crist and Bryce Carmichael lost to Carmel, 0-4, 0-4.  They were in the first game against Floyd Central before being rained out.

At No. 2 doubles, Ayden Mitchell and Kiptyn Schwartz beat Avon, 4-1, 4-2.

Jacob Williams lost 1-6 in an extra match against Floyd Central.  In a second match against another Floyd player, Jacob was tied at 4-4 when rains arrived.

Western JV Invite

The rest of the JV was competing Saturday at the Kokomo JV Invitational at Western HS in Russiaville.  They were able to comleted three rounds and were in the fourth round when rain ended the day.

The boys went 5-0 in matches against Western, whose varsity team is ranked 17th in the state currently.

Andrew Alexander won 8-1 in dominant fashion.  Cooper Coutinho won 8-7 (4) in a match that featured many long points.  Graham Hartman won 8-6. Maddox Weddle/Denys Krusenytskyi won 8-0. And Jason Ogle/Grant Durkovich won 8-3.

The team also went 5-0 against Kokomo, whose varsity is ranked 27th in the state.

Jensen Moody/Kiptyn Berry won 8-0 in doubles and Jacob Tokar won 8-0 in singles. Hayden Case won 8-3.  Grant Durkovich/Jason Ogle won 8-2.  Reid Cardemon/Drew Durkovich won 8-5.

Against West Lafayette, the boys went 1-1 with several matches rained out.

Stanley Hutchens rallied for an 8-6 victory after trailing 1-4.  Andrew Alexander lost 3-6.  Cooper Coutinho was tied at 3-3. Jacob Tokar trailed 2-3.  Maddox Weddle/Denys Krushenytskyi were behind 2-3.

Carson Mick, Austin Carrigan and Jonah Swift would have been able to play, also, but rain ended those opportunities.