(LEFT) The Carmel boys tennis team won its 16th state championship in program history on Saturday, Oct. 18. The Greyhounds beat Homestead 3-2. (RIGHT) Carmel senior Andrew Kim was named the Mental Attitude Award winner. (Photos courtesy Carmel Athletics)
By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
INDIANAPOLIS – The top-ranked Carmel boys tennis team added another trophy to their case on Saturday. It was a gritty match with No. 2 Homestead that came down to the final match to decide a champion, but the Greyhounds persevered for a 3-2 win over the Spartans Saturday, Oct. 18 at the Barbara Wynne Tennis Center at North Central.
Carmel’s No. 2 singles player senior Andrew Kim was named the recipient of the IHSAA’s Mental Attitude Award.
Homestead came into the championship with just one loss and that was on Aug. 21 in the season opener to Carmel (4-1). They had won 26 consecutive, including state finals matches in the quarterfinals against Columbus North (3-2) and South Bend St. Joseph’s (4-1).
As expected, the two doubles matches were decided relatively quickly. The No. 1 doubles duo of David Liu and Jude Sangar had no trouble with Will Miller and Gabe Pasalich with a fast 6-1, 6-1. Finishing in just about the same time, Rajeev Singh and Andrew Hall were 6-2, 6-0 winners over Shamyant Boda and Connor Cook, putting the Greyhounds up 2-0 with singles left to decide things.
Fourth-year Carmel head coach Dan Brunette is no stranger to coaching in the state championship. Brunette had runner-up finishes in 2011 and 2012 while coaching at North Central, but coming to Carmel.
North Central would then win three straight state titles under Brunette (2013-15) and then were runner-up to Carmel three more times (2018-20) in Brunette’s tenure as a Panther that lasted 16 seasons. Carmel won two years ago in 2023 in Dan Brunette’s second year at the helm of the Greyhounds for his fourth. This year makes it his fifth title as a coach.
“I told the guys, between matches, we faced a very athletic Avon team (in the quarterfinals). That put a little scare into us,” said Carmel head coach Dan Brunette. “It was a combination of playing on the front deck in the quarterfinal and the head official had a keen eye on our match. That was the test we kind of needed.”
The first singles match decided was No. 2. Homestead’s Ben Garrean made it tough for Carmel’s Andrew Kim and was able to oust Kim, 6-3, 6-3.
“I’ve put insane expectations on these guys and I think you can see that,” Brunette continued. “They’ll do what I ask. They are pretty disciplined.”
No. 1 singles and Butler commit Wes Worobel came into the state championship match 25-0 on the season. He faced an uphill battle in both sets against the Spartans’ freshman Joe Garrean and was unable to overcome and fell to Garrean, 6-4, 6-3, tying the match 2-2.
“This has been the first year in coaching that I haven’t had that external pressure from the outside and been able to really embrace these guys,” added Brunette.
As the individual regional singles and doubles matches from the other three decks finished, the crowd around the team state championship grew larger and larger, creating quite the heightened atmosphere.
It all came down to Court 1 at No. 3 singles between Homestead’s Eric Ji and Carmel’s Vishal Shankar.
Shankar was 23-1 heading into the state title match and by beating Ji 6-4, 6-4, Shankar proved that he is tough as nails and responded brilliantly when his team needed him the most.
“I call him (Shankar) the MVP. I had a sneaky feeling,” said Brunette. “I told him every single day that we were together, Vishal, you’re going to have to win that match on Court 1.”
Shankar didn’t worry about what else was going on around him with the other matches. He knew he had to focus on his match specifically to clinch their 16th state championship and third in five years.
“My coach and I went over this type of scenario. It’s me on my court. I don’t worry about any outside distraction or any other score,” said Shankar. “If a player loses, I’ve got to focus on my match and help out my team and contribute any way I can. That’s what I did today.”
