Typically once or twice a season, a varsity singles or doubles match in high school tennis will extend longer than three hours.

So when it happens three times in the same evening, you can bet it will be a match that will be remembered for many years.

Delta outlasted Greenfield-Central 3-2 on Tuesday night in a key Hoosier Heritage Conference matchup of state-ranked teams that saw all three singles matches last three hours or longer.

Delta, ranked 16th in the state, improved its record to 3-1 overall and 3-0 in first place in the conference.  Greenfield-Central, ranked 30th in the state, lost for the first time this season and now stands at 8-1 overall, 2-1 in the league.

The visiting Eagles dominated the doubles early in the evening.

Junior Tyce Dishman and freshman Brandon Grubbs were first off the court with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over senior Kasen Jarnecke and junior Jacob Welch.

Delta then took a 2-0 lead as seniors Brady Williams and Aaron Elliott cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 victory at No. 2 doubles over senior Ethan Ortwein and freshman Raleigh Gantt.

From there, you would have to settle in for nearly two more hours before anything else was decided.

Finally, at the three-hour mark, Eagle sophomore Luke Atkinson clinched the team victory with a 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (4) victory at No. 3 singles over freshman Andrew White.  Luke survived two match points.

Meanwhile, the matches at No. 1 and No. 2 singles continued. With no lights at the Greenfield courts and the sun dropping off in the western horizon, it became too difficult to see the ball.  The matches were moved to the lighted courts at Greenfield’s Riley Park.

At No. 1 singles, Greenfield junior Nathan Roberts edged Delta freshman Jackson Darby. Roberts won the opening set 6-2, but Darby fought back to take the middle set 7-5.  The lead changed hands a couple of times in the final set with Roberts prevailing 6-4 in 3 hours, 15 minutes.

Roberts was second team All-State Singles last season and was the top player in District 4. He is unbeaten so far this season at 9-0. Darby is now 5-2 for the season.

The No. 2 singles match was still not over.

Delta freshman Charlie Vannatter dropped the opening set 1-6 to Greenfield senior Alex Michalek, who is the all-time varsity victory leader for the Cougars.  But Vannatter fought back and took the second set 7-5.  The third set featured many long rallies and exciting points and was the longest yet with both players going on hot streaks.

Michalek won the marathon match 7-6 (1) in the third set after 3 hours, 25 minutes.

By that time, the JV match had long been over.  Delta won 10-7, including a sweep of the four singles positions.

Next up for the Eagles will be more state-ranked opponents in the Fort Wayne Carroll Invitational on Saturday.

Here are the first-round matchups for that tournament:

#3 Hamilton Southeastern vs DeKalb

#12 FW Carroll vs Homestead JV

#16 Delta vs #25 Cathedral

#4 Homestead vs Alexandria

Complete Results

Varsity
DELTA 3, GREENFIELD-CENTRAL 2

Varsity Singles

1. Jackson Darby lost 2-6, 7-5, 4-6
2. Charlie Vannatter lost 1-6, 7-5, 6-7
3. Luke Atkinson won 6-2, 2-6, 7-6

Varsity Doubles

1. Tyce Dishman/Brandon Grubbs won 6-2, 6-0
2. Brady Williams/Aaron Elliott won 6-1, 6-2

JV
DELTA 10, GREENFIELD-CENTRAL 7

JV Singles

1. Colten Cruea won 6-2
2. Roman Ashcraft won 6-0
3. Owen Zacek won 6-0
4. Andrew Alexander won 6-3

JV Doubles

1. Ben Miller/Kaden Crist lost 0-6
2. Ayden Mitchell/Bryce Carmichael won 6-0
3. John Atkinson/Kiptyn Schwartz won 7-6
4. Maddox Weddle/Reid Cardemon won 6-0
5. Daniel Tokar/Jacob Tokar won 6-3
6. Kiptyn Berry/Jensen Moody lost 2-6
7. Denys Krusenytskyi/Cooper Coutinho lost 6-8
8. Jacob Williams/Jason Ogle won 6-1
9. Grant Durkovich/Drew Durkovich won 6-4
10. Hayden Case/Carson Mick lost 2-6
11. Stanley Hutchens/Jaylen Tracy lost 1-6
12. Graham Hartman/Austin Carrigan lost 0-6
13. Hunter Reed/Jonah Swift lost 0-6