By Dave Fresher
Contributing Writer
INDIANAPOLIS — No love was lost when top-ranked North Central (Indianapolis) and No. 5
Indianapolis Cathedral, two schools rich in tennis history, got together in a
North Central Sectional quarterfinal match Sept. 28.
Rackets
were thrown. Fists were pumped. Emotions were spread all over the courts. Just
another typical meeting between 16-time state champion North Central and
defending state champion Cathedral.
North
Central dominated early then struggled to hang on, battling Cathedral down to
the very last point. In the end, North Central proved too strong as the
Panthers defeated the Irish in thrilling fashion, 3-2.
North
Central coach Spencer Fields attributes the victory to his teamâ??s ability to
play well under pressure in close matches.
â??It was a
tight match, a match that probably did not go as expected,â? Fields said. â??I am
pleased that we won another close match. It is kind of what we have been doing
recently, and hopefully we can keep it up.â?
In the
most-watched match of the day, North Centralâ??s Paul Chappell and Cathedralâ??s Luke
Bielawski put on quite a show for the several hundred students and parents who
were on hand.
Chappell
jumped all over Bielawski from the opening toss. Chappell gained support early from
the crowd and broke Bielawskiâ??s serve three consecutive times in the first set.
Bielawski appeared tight as an abundance of his shots sailed wide, long, and
into the net. Chappellâ??s serve appeared dominant as he won the opening set,
6-0.
With the
crowd and momentum clearly on Chappellâ??s side, he appeared on his way to a
quick and easy victory. But what Chappell really had accomplished was to wake a
sleeping giant.
With an
intense North Central crowd cheering and jeering against him, Bielawski let his
racket do the talking. His serve came around, and he was able to mix up his
shot selection: Forehand. Backhand. Slice. Volley.
All his
shots came together when he needed them. Despite letting his emotions get the
best of him during the match, Bielawski rallied to win the final two sets, 6-1,
6-1.
Bielawskiâ??s
victory evened the match at 1-1 after North Centralâ??s Phillip Siebels had made
quick work of Cathedralâ??s Travis Mandrell. Siebels won 6-1, 6-0 before most of
the other matches even reached their second sets.
After a
quick rain shower and a delay of nearly 40 minutes, the match was tied 2-2 with
one huge match remaining at No. 1 doubles.
David
Dietz and Max Shelton of North Central were doing their best to hold off the
charging Irish duo of Alex Swider and Brett Barra. Dietz and Shelton won the first set in a tiebreak, but
Swider and Barra came back to take the second, 6-3. It would come down to the
final set.
The crowd
of hundreds converged to the middle court to watch these young athletes push
themselves to their limits with two prominent schoolsâ?? seasons on the line.
The final
set went back and forth, with each team breaking the otherâ??s serve. With the
set knotted up at four games apiece, the Panthers jumped on Swiderâ??s serve and
took a love-30 lead. But Swiderâ??s serve came around, and the Irish led 40-30
before the blink of an eye.
Unfortunately
for the Irish, that was as close as they would get.
North
Central forced Barra to make several bad shots, and the Panthers broke serve to
take a 5-4 lead in the set. The Irish appeared gassed and could not mount
another comeback. Dietz and Shelton
won the next game clinch the sectional quarterfinal victory, 6-4, as Panther students
rushed the court in celebration.
Before the
final set, Fields had some simple instructions for his No. 1 duo.
â??I told
them to keep holding serve,â? Fields said. â??That is what it has always been, and
that is what we needed to do.â?
Serving
was, indeed, the key to victory. North Central was only broken once in the critical
No. 1 doubles final set, while the Irish were broken twice. And that is why
Cathedral will be unable to defend its boys state title.
North
Centralâ??s next opponent will be Heritage Christian. The two will tangle at 4
p.m. EDT Sept. 29 at North Central.
So what do you think? Share your thoughts
in our Boys Tennis forum.
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