Eagles, Falcons Claim Tennis Titles
Culver Academies and Fairfield each claimed boys tennis regional championships Wednesday night.
The host Eagles topped Plymouth 3-2, while the Falcons beat host Concord 4-1 in regional finals.
Culver Academies, which stopped Warsaw 5-0 in a regional semifinal match Tuesday night, repeated as regional champions. The Eagles (14-5) return home on Saturday at noon to face South Bend St. Joseph (18-0) in the Culver Academies Semistate.
Fairfield improved to 24-0 on the season by topping Concord by a 4-1 final for the second time this season. The Falcons will face Delta (22-3) at noon on Saturday in the Homestead Semistate.
Culver, which boasted an all-senior lineup last year when they advanced to the quarterfinal round of the State Finals, got two singles wins and a win at its top doubles spot to beat the Pilgrims for the second time this year.
The No. 1 doubles team of senior Andrew Dorrell and junior Jose Santiago Peraza led the champions. The duo topped seniors Nick Felke and Grant Clady 6-3, 6-2 to remain undefeated on the season.
Culver also got wins on the No. 1 and No. 3 singles courts Wednesday night. Junior Ian Smith topped senior John Gerard 6-2, 6-0 at No. 1 and freshman Nikolas Warnholtz beat senior Zach Moser 6-7(6-7), 7-5, 6-2 for the third and clinching point.
Plymouth got wins at No. 2 singles as sophomore Mitch Rose won 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 and at No. 2 doubles where the team of junior Tommy Holloway and senior Hudson Yoder won in three sets.
Fairfield, which returned all but one letterman from last year’s team that finished 10-9, continued its undefeated run in impressive fashion over the host Minutemen.
Standout freshman Joel Mast, who has lost just twice this season, led the Falcons with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Will Boyer at No. 1 singles.
The Falcons took the No. 2 singles match as Clayton Bender topped Alex Serwatka 6-2, 6-0. Fairfield won both doubles as its No. 1 team of Jesse Grimm and Dylan Kaufman beat Nathan and Travis Hermon 4-6, 7-6 (7-50, 7-5 and the No. 2 duo of Joel Kropf and Aaron Streit stopped Freddy Buckingham and Jake Lovette 6-0, 6-4.
Concord claimed the No. 3 singles court as Nate Slabach defeated Isaac Miller 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
Concord, which won the Northern Lakes Conference regular season and tournament titles, finishes at 14-5.
South Bend St. Joseph beat Penn 3-2 to win the Portage Regional title Wednesday night. Delta topped Lapel 5-0 to win the Marion Regional crown.