Columbus North No. 1 singles player Hank Lin returns the ball during a match against Columbus East at Columbus East High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
There was no stopping the Columbus North boys tennis team Tuesday night in its annual crosstown rivalry match at Columbus East.
The Bull Dogs never dropped a game in any of the five matches for a 5-0 victory.
The match was originally scheduled for 4:30 p.m., but with the temperatures in the 90s across the area, it got delayed to 7 p.m. start.
“It doesn’t matter what the competition is that we have, whether it’s really strong competition or weaker competition, I try to get the guys to go out and play the best tennis that they can,” North coach Kendal Hammel said. “Everyone in all positions did their job, and it showed by the scores. They didn’t let up. They did what they needed to do, and they are not all going to be that way, so we’ve just got to move on and be ready for the next match.”
Hank Lin topped Tyler Ernst at No. 1 singles, Parth Shah downed Owen Kirk at No. 2 singles and Sashu Sabapathy defeated Michael Reed at No. 3 singles all by 6-0, 6-0 scores.
Yoki Murabayashi and Vince Sasse defeated Trevor Ernst and Micah Wettschurack at No. 1 doubles, and Jace Branham and Adrian Perez won over Cooper Harry and Carson Hartsook at No. 2 doubles, also by 6-0, 6-0 scores.
“The boys had some specific goals tonight for each match, and each of the boys came off the court saying they were able to meet some of those goals,” East coach Adam Ulrich said. “When you play a top-tier team, you look for those small victories, and these boys did exactly we asked them to do, and I couldn’t be prouder of them for what they did tonight and how they pushed themselves against a really tough team.”
