The Center Grove girls tennis train kept rolling with a 5-0 win over 16th-ranked Franklin Central in the regional semifinals Tuesday at home.
The Trojans, ranked sixth in the final coaches poll and sporting a 15-3 record, swept an opponent for the third time this postseason to reach today’s regional finals. Center Grove will take on Southport, a 4-1 winner over Triton Central in the other semifinal, in the championship match at 4:30 p.m.
“I thought we played well. We know a lot of these kids from clinics so I knew that they would be tougher competition than what we had seen in our first two rounds,” Center Grove coach Debby Burton said. “But I felt like we handled things well and we took care of what we needed to care of to neutralize their strengths. I think the biggest thing was that they just stayed really focused.”
The Trojans dropped just one set on Tuesday. The No. 1 doubles duo of Emily Hoy and Ashlee Fisk won the opener over Franklin Central’s Brooklyn Schiffli and Carly Sobieralski by a 6-0 score before falling 6-3 in the second set. The Trojan pair responded with a 6-3 win in the third set.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
“(Franklin Central’s) two players were pretty good athletes and they were feisty and I think we just relaxed too much in the second set,” Burton said. “But we came back and took care of business in the third set and those are good mental lessons to learn.”
The other four matches went according to script. Isabella Schoolcraft beat Franklin Central’s Lydia Laker 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, Ellie Strube defeated Sabrina Mullen 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 singles and Jillian Garrett dispatched Emily Nordhoff 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3 singles.
At No. 2 doubles, Abby Hoard and Holyn Aukerman fended off the Flashes’ Elise Paz and Devin Cooney 6-0, 6-3.
Whiteland’s Reese Johnson lost her bid to advance in the individual sectional with a hard-fought 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 loss to Roncalli’s Emma Hess. Hess will take on Anna Osborne of Perry Meridian, who defeated Morristown’s Makenzie Logan 6-4, 6-3, in today’s individual sectional.
