South off to quick start, tops North in boys tennis sectional opener

Three relatively quick wins moved No. 9 Bloomington South forward in the boys’ tennis sectional.

But a nearly three-hour battle to claim the last point in a 4-1 win over No. 18 Bloomington North on Tuesday, Sept. 30, said something as well.

Connor Couch and Marko Montano dropped the first set to North’s Hersh Patel and Chris Estivill-Kilmer then roared back for a 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-2 win.

“They’ve been a process all year,” South coach Matt Corry said. “I think convincing them that the grind is the best pathway to winning and it’s never going to be pretty, that we have to go compete and be a kid. Go have fun with it and just put yourself in the right spot.”

Couch and Mantano forced the tiebreaker in the first after trailing 6-5 and it got away. They closed out the second set to force the third and had few problems there.

“We battled against our will, we battled against our emotions, we battle with our personalities and our perfectionism,” Corry said. “So after that first set we said, ‘Hey, the team match is over. At this point, it’s not about me coaching you, it’s pride on the line.

“You can snap out of it or ride this out and you’re going to regret it. So I was happy with how they responded.”

South, the defending sectional champs, went right after the Cougars at 2 and 3 singles and especially at 1 doubles, where Abe Corry and Josh Sang were facing Ramsey Mills and Dev Chopra for the third time this year.

The Panther duo won their conference meeting 6-3, 6-2 and had a tough time against them in the Jasper Tournament, but this time, no sweat: 6-0, 6-2.

William Liao took care of Tommy Chopra 6-1, 6-1 at 3 singles then Alex Busch, queasy stomach and all, came through with a 6-2, 6-1 win at 2 singles to secure the team victory in just over and hour.

“We’re just thankful for opportunities to keep growing,” Corry said. “We’ve been envisioning this the whole year and just happy to get out here and jump on them fast.”

North coach Ken Hydinger was proud of the effort, knowing what his team was up against.

“We fought, we didn’t quit when we got in some tough situations,” Hydinger said. “South’s a good team. They have some talented guys who have been playing for a long, long time.

“Ben was fighting and trying to get his fingernails in there. I can’t complain with that. Brady held the fight out there (at 1 singles), 2 doubles big fight. One (doubles) we couldn’t get into that match. We thought we could get into that. And Tommy’s had a good year at No. 3 but he hasn’t played many tough matches like that, but he’s going to be a player.”

More: Andrew Paul works his way into the history books of Edgewood boys tennis

South (12-1) advances to a semifinal meeting with Owen Valley while Edgewood takes on Brown County. Both matches will start at 5:30.

North’s Murphy moves on

The two-hour, 20 minute battle at 1 singles had plenty of ebbs and flows and dozens of deuce points before senior Brady Murphy kept his season alive with a 7-6(5), 6-4 win over sophomore Caleb Lian.

“For me, it was just float the whole time,” Murphy said. “I wasn’t worried about losing. I wasn’t worried about winning too much. I was just focusing on my shots and everything was going smooth. So it was just a flow through the whole thing.

“I only started losing when the lighting was funny and contacts were bothering me because of the win. It was a mental thing I just zoned out. But I put it back on in the second set. Happy I figured my serve out. Forehand was a lot better. I’m really just happy with that match.”

Lian has been in and out of the lineup and playing doubles as he deals with a foot injury. That didn’t slow him for erasing a 5-1 deficit in Set 1.

“It’s been a process,” Corry said. “And he’s limited in what he can do and we’re limited in the strategies that we have to be creative with. I think he’s grown a tremendous amount in the midst of struggle and adversity.”

“He’s definitely a tough opponent in that he doesn’t usually miss that often,” Murphy said. “He missed a lot tonight because I think he’s been hurt. I know what that’s been like. I’ve had four separate injuries.

“I think his gameplan was to make the points as short as possible, so obviously my gameplan was to make points as long as possible and I think I did a good job with that.”

Set 2 was close throughout and at 5-4, Murphy fired a rare ace to end it. And now, he’s off to top a former Cougar Connor O’Guinn, who made it to the state quarterfinals in singles in 2023.

“My goal is to do better than Connor O’Guinn did, because I had a rivalry with him,” Murphy said. “Hopefully, I can make a run like that. And if I don’t, I’m perfectly fine with it.

“I’ve had my time with tennis. I’ve been playing 12 years and I feel like I’ve grown into a good player and a good person from it.”

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: South off to quick start, tops North in boys tennis sectional opener