A 4-year sweep: Shirley leads All-Area Boys' Tennis Team again
It's a family tree with deep roots in the Bloomington tennis community, so it's no surprise when one of the branches blooms like Nick Shirley has.
The Coghlan, Shirley and Gettelfinger families, all of them related in some way, have been good to North head boys' tennis coach Ken Hydinger (and girls' coach Barb Mills) since Matthew Coghlan played for his first Cougars squad in 2008.
"It's been unbelievable," said Hydinger, who has known Nick Shirley for at least a decade and had all the signs of being something special, in the mold of Cougar standouts Matthew McCoy, Ray Leonard and Mac Rogers or South's three-time state champ Ronnie Schneider.
"It's pretty easy to see when they get on the court and they're paying attention and eager come to the court," Hydinger said. "They are the kids who are up for talking about tennis. Their heads are into it. They're learning."
He sees more similarities between them and Shirley, state runner-up and the Herald-Times Boys' Tennis Player of the Year for the fourth time.
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"First of all, they have the self-concept that they are a tennis player," Hydinger said. "It's part of their identity, it's something they love. It's a part of them.
"The second thing is, they all believed in themselves, so they were going to get something done. And they were all very disciplined and consistent about competing. They were playing all the time in the off-season. And obviously, they received the benefit of it with their game's growth."
Shirley's game and his tennis knowledge grew remarkably over four years. He was a quick learner, so he could put new ideas and concepts into play sooner than most.
"There's an old saying as a teacher, 'You don't learn them anything,'" Hydinger said. "You put seeds in there and the good players make it their own.
"A lot of that is an attitude. They want to get better and they knew they had to get better."
And Shirley was at his best this season, going 18-2 on both sides of a two-week break caused by a hamstring pull. One loss was due to retiring late in the second set a heated battle with Columbus North's Hank Lin and the other in the state title match after he'd rallied for a three-set win in the semis, 5-7, 6-4 ,6-4.
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He pulled out the only other three-setter he played in all season, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(5) over South's Michael Asplund in the sectional final. He ended up with a dozen 6-0, 6-0 wins.
"One of the biggest differences this year, is that he used to back up on the ball a little bit," Hydinger said. "Maybe back up too much behind the baseline, so he was not in a position to attack. And he was only so good in putting balls back. So he stayed closer to the baseline and that allowed him to get in transition points and take the ball sooner.
"He was also paying attention more and not just letting things happen. He was being intentional. It's a developed skill. The other thing is that his volleys improved considerably. Last year, he was just blocking balls, and this year he started driving them a little bit better. He was finishing with one or two volleys a lot."
2022 ALL-AREA BOYS' TENNIS TEAM
Singles
Nick Shirley, North, Sr.
Four-time H-T Player of the Year had his best season yet, going 18-2 at No. 1 (69-18 for his career) and finishing second in the state. Only other loss came in a match he had to retire late in the second set. All-CI. First Team All-State for a third time.
Michael Asplund, South, Sr.
One of the state's best and one of the hardest hitters around, led the Panthers to the regional finals. Went 16-6, losing four times to Shirley and Columbus North's Hank Lin. All-CI. First Team All-State. Four-time All-Area, twice in singles, twice in doubles.
Chris Lian, South, Sr.
Played No. 2 for Panthers going 22-1, with his only loss to Carmel. Only eight times were his opponents able to win more than two games off of him. Finished his career an incredible 84-9. All-CI. Second Team All-State. Four-time All-Area, twice in singles, twice in doubles.
Doubles
Casey McIntyre and Brady Murphy, North
Cougars' top doubles team, McIntyre, a junior, and Murphy, a freshman, went 14-6 and earned a spot in the individual tournament, but came up one match short of making it to regional. Made finals at the Jasper Tournament. All-District.
Evan Kantor and Luka Jovanovic, South
Panthers top squad came together late in the year after Jovanovic spent time at 3 singles early on, going 2-3. Kantor was paired up with David Ciucu much of the season and finished 6-8 in doubles play.
HONORABLE MENTION: Alex Busch, South (singles); Esteban Crespo, North, So. (singles); Josh Sang and David Ciucu, South (doubles).
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington North's Nick Shirley leads All-Area IHSAA Boys Tennis Team
