BLOOMINGTON
One of the greatest seasons in Seymour boys tennis history came to an end Wednesday night in the regional final at Bloomington South High School.
Against third-ranked Columbus North, the Owls were unable to cage the Bulldogs, falling 5-0 and just short of the program’s first regional title.
Still, in spite of the shortcoming, Seymour coach Brad Emerson had nothing but positive things to say about his boys.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Well, he had so many good things to say that he couldn’t pick just one.
"I can’t say enough about these guys," Emerson said. "They’ve played their hearts out all year, they’ve competed and we battled.
"They’ve represented Seymour real well and I hope they don’t look at this match as the way the season went, because the season was great."
The No. 3 Bulldogs didn’t waste much time securing their spot at next week’s Jasper semistate, getting three quick wins at Nos. 2 and 3 singles as well as No. 2 doubles.
Both Isaac Hardin and Braden Handloser went three sets the night before against Greensburg and tired legs might have played a factor in each of them dropping their matches 6-0, 6-0.
Emerson said fatigue wasn’t much of a factor and that his boys were simply outmatched.
The Owls’ No. 2 doubles pair of Trey Hohenstreiter and Andrew Levine snagged two of the three games won by the Owls on Wednesday night. No. 1 singles player Vincent Camboulas won the other in his match but fell 6-1, 6-0.
The tandem has been the most consistent spot for the Owls this season.
"We mixed in some good experience with Trey being a senior and Andrew just being an animal at the net," Emerson said. "Today, we had opportunities, but we just didn’t take advantage of them."
Seymour’s season ends with an 18-3 record, the program’s 11th sectional title and a third-place finish in the Hoosier Hills Conference.
There will be some holes to plug for next season, but the foundation has been set for the Owls to build on.
Also playing on Wednesday night, Brownstown Central’s Ethan Issacs fell to Bloomington North’s Nick Shirley 6-0, 6-1 to end his season in the regional semifinal of the singles tournament.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Box Score” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Columbus North 5, Seymour 0
No. 1 singles: Nathan Lin (CN) def. Vincent Camboulas (S) 6-1, 6-0
No. 2 singles: Bhavey Jain (CN) def. Isaac Hardin (S) 6-0, 6-0
No. 3 singles: Adam Saad (CN) def. Braden Handloser 6-0, 6-0
No. 1 doubles: Matthew Liu and Joey Zhao (CN) def. Will Rinehart and Brandon Hubbard (S) 6-0, 6-0
No. 2 doubles: Eamon Ma and Will King (CN) def. Trey Hohenstreiter and Andrew Levine (S) 6-2, 6-0
[sc:pullout-text-end]