By Mike McGraw
Executive Director
INDIANAPOLIS – If you are a fan of performance under pressure, there was no better place to be May 24 than the North Central (Indianapolis) Semistate. In the end, this day ended exactly as the girls tennis experts said it would.
Sort of.
Top-ranked and three-time defending state champion Park Tudor eliminated No. 3 Carmel after both had easily advanced to the finals. The Panthers then won the showdown of perennial net powers – Park Tudor owns five state titles, Carmel three – by a 3-2 decision, advancing to a state semifinals berth May 31 opposite No. 4 Jasper.
The final match on this day, it should be noted, was anything but ordinary. Filled with pressure-packed moments and nearly heroic performances, the championship bout itself made for a great story.
But wait till you hear the sidebar to the tale.
The first two matches of the finals went according to form. Park Tudor’s Caroline Emhardt defeated Elizabeth Trancik of Carmel 6-3, 6-2 at No. 2 singles, while Carmel’s season-long undefeated No. 2 doubles team of Colleen Farrell and Sara Rodefeld dumped Park’s Sarah MacPhail and Julie Elbin 7-6, 6-4.
Then things began to get really interesting.
Carmel’s No. 1 singles player Courtney Wild was up one set and 6-5 in the second when she was forced to call an injury timeout due to severe leg cramps. “Severe” is an appropriate word as Wild was still hobbling badly an hour after the match – that, despite having received extensive post-match treatment.
After the injury timeout, Park Tudor’s Lindsey Thygesen quickly won the next game to force a tiebreaker. And that tiebreaker was a picture of grace under pressure.
Wild stayed back on all but one point, sending moon-ball returns one after another. Thygesen, meanwhile, pounded away with hard ground strokes, trying to force Wild into more movement than her leg would allow. Ultimately, Wild prevailed 8-6 to win both the match and the admiration of all in attendance.
That inspiring result left Carmel with two opportunities to pull off the upset. Both would have to come in three-set marathons.
The Greyhounds’ No. 1 doubles team of Megan Renninger and Olivia Trancik had split sets with Park’s Elizabeth Emhardt and Heather Rogers (7-5, 4-6). Meanwhile, the No. 3 singles match was also moving toward a third set.
Fatigue became a factor in the doubles match. As the final set progressed, Park’s tandem was clearly the fresher of the teams. That advantage quickly showed in the scores as Park Tudor dominated the third set 6-1 to win the match and tie the team contest at 2-2.
For Park Tudor, that left the pressure of returning to the finals to defend their titles of the last three years squarely on the diminutive shoulders of freshman Maggie MacPhail. Believe me when I say that “diminutive” is an accurate term – my daughter has dolls bigger than this girl. Maggie is roughly 5’2” and about a 100 and nothing, but at least 80 pounds of that has to be heart.
It is an amount that was matched, however, by Carmel’s Susie Chen. The two had traded hard-fought wins – 7-6 (7-3) for Chen in the opener, 7-5 for MacPhail in Game 2 – in the first two sets, and the third quickly became a war … progressing at a snail’s pace.
By the time the match reached 4-3 in MacPhail’s favor, all of the other action had long been completed. All in attendance were screaming on every point.
MacPhail rose to the occasion, winning the final two games to close out the match and send the Panthers back to the state title round.
Now for the little sidebar! It seems that heroics of this type run in the MacPhail family. Sister Sarah, who has played doubles this season, played the No. 3 singles role the last two years. In both instances, her victory in the state title match was the deciding verdict in Park Tudor’s championships.
It, obviously, is a band of sisters you don’t want to mess with.
HoosierAuthority.com spoke with both Carmel’s Wild and Maggie MacPhail after the championship match, and that video will be up May 27. Those interviews are a study in modesty and competitive spirit.
The morning semifinal round of the day carried no suspense to compare with the final. Carmel easily dispatched of No. 7 Center Grove 4-1, losing only at No. 2 singles and taking all four Ws in straight sets. Park Tudor, meanwhile, shut out Richmond 5-0, losing only 14 games in the five individual matches.
Should the favored Panthers defeat Jasper, they will face either No. 2 Munster or fifth-ranked Zionsville in the state championship match at North Central.
The complete North Central Semistate results, courtesy of ihsaa.org and indystar.com …
Semifinals
# 3 Carmel 4, #7 Center Grove 1
No. 1 singles – Courtney Wild (Carmel) def. Becca Porter 6-2, 6-2
No. 2 singles – Katie Wyman (CG) def. Elizabeth Trancik 6-3, 6-1
No. 3 singles – Susie Chen (Carmel) def. Alicia Smith 6-2, 6-4
No. 1 doubles – Megan Renninger/Olivia Trancik (Carmel) def. Jamie Claeys/Diane Jones 6-0, 7-5
No. 2 doubles – Colleen Farrell/Sarah Rodefeld (Carmel) def. Sarah Richert/Sarah Colin 6-2, 6-3
#1 Park Tudor 5, Richmond 0
No. 1 singles – Lindsay Thygesen (PT) def. Lindsey Mauger 6-0, 6-0
No. 2 singles – Caroline Emhardt (PT) def. Chantelle van der Merwe 6-1, 6-4
No. 3 singles – Maggie MacPhail (PT) def. Anna Stephens 6-0, 6-4
No. 1 doubles – Elizabeth Emhardt/Heather Rogers (PT) def. Grace Chimenti/Jami Newman 6-0, 6-0
No. 2 doubles – Sarah MacPhail/Julie Elbin (PT) def. Olivia Engle/Catherine Ahaus 6-0, 6-3
Championship
#1 Park Tudor 3, #3 Carmel 2
No. 1 singles – Courtney Wild (Carmel) def. Lindsay Thygesen 7-5, 7-6 (7-4)
No. 2 singles – Caroline Emhardt (PT) def. Elizabeth Trancik 6-2, 6-3
No. 3 singles – Maggie MacPhail (PT) def. Susie Chen 6-7 (7-3), 7-5, 6-3
No. 1 doubles – Elizabeth Emhardt/ Heather Rogers (PT) def. Megan Renninger/Olivia Trancik 5-7, 6-4, 6-1
No. 2 doubles – Colleen Farrell/Sarah Rodefeld (Carmel) def. Sarah MacPhail/Julie Elbin 7-4 (7-4), 6-4
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