Columbus North’s Hank Lin, shown with assistant coach Robin Cain, left, and head coach Kendal Hammel, became the first Columbus North boys tennis player to win the state singles championship Saturday at Park Tudor.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
INDIANAPOLIS — Hank Lin got a taste of the Boys Tennis Singles State Finals last year when he made it to the title match and brought home a silver medal.
This year, Lin wasn’t leaving Park Tudor without a gold.
The Columbus North senior won back-to-back straight-set matches Saturday to become the first Bull Dog boys player to win a state singles championship.
“Last year, I was nervous, and it really got to me in the finals,” Lin said. “But this year, I wasn’t nervous at all. I felt no pressure, so I just played my best.”
Lin, who finished the season a perfect 27-0, beat Terre Haute North’s James Belmar 6-1, 6-1 in Friday’s quarterfinals. Saturday morning, Lin topped Fairfield’s Garrett Stoltzfus 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals.
That set up a rematch of a regular-season meeting with Center Grove’s Tyler Lane in Saturday afternoon’s final. Although it didn’t go as easy as the regular-season match did, Lin was able to manage a 6-4, 6-2 victory.
“I just had the mindset of getting the ball in play because I knew from his last match, he was pretty good,” Lin said. “I tried to get to as many balls as I could and just tried to finish at the net.”
Lin’s two Saturday matches were eerily similar. He jumped out to 4-0 first-set leads in both and fell behind 2-1 in the second set of both before coming back to finish off both matches.
Lin broke his opponent’s serve in the first game of all four of his sets on Saturday.
“He used that experience (from last year) and stepped it up today,” North coach Kendal Hammel said. “Both matches, he came out right off the bat very aggressive. We had some game plans. He’s the one that had to execute it, and he did a fabulous job.”
After falling behind 2-1 in the second set of the final, Lin ran off five consecutive games to close the match.
“We saw Hank play like Hank today,” Hammel said. “He finished up his career that was everyone was looking at what they thought he could do and how he could play. He didn’t let anybody down. He ripped the ball, swung well, went after shots — the drop shots, the power shots. It was really fun to watch him play today.”
Hank Lin, left, gets instruction from Columbus North assistant coach Robin Cain and head coach Kendal Hammel, right, during a changeover in his semifinal win against Fairfield’s Garrett Stoltzfus Saturday at Park Tudor.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
In the semifinal, Lin beat the previously-unbeaten Stoltzfus, who at 6-foot-3, had a big height advantage.
“We were unsure of this (Stoltzfus) guy,” Hammel said. “He was a very nice player. It was a good match for Hank to play against a guy with a big serve and good groundstrokes and everything. But Hank just stepped up in the game plan of driving the ball to the baseline and throwing in the slices and the drop shots, making him reach, making him stretch and just not making a lot of mistakes.”
“I thought I played really well, definitely better than my state quarter match,” Lin added. “I set up a game plan for today (Friday) night. I know he is tall and has a long wingspan, so I utilized my slice and moved him around to open opportunity to close at the net.”
Former Bull Dog Kathryn Wilson, who now plays at Purdue, won the past two Girls Tennis Singles State titles. Caroline Hedrick also won a girls title for North.
Lin, who fell to North Central’s Alex Antonopoulos 6-2, 6-1 in last year’s title match, is the first boys champion from Columbus North.
“It feels great,” Lin said. “I did it for the Dogs.”
“He’s grown a lot through all the years,” Hammel added. “I remember him starting lessons in clinics with him and his two older brothers. He has just stepped up, and everyone kept saying, ‘Hank’s the real deal,’ and he did it. He really set the bar high for tennis players here.”
