ICYMI: Asplund makes a racket at No. 1 Carmel; checking in on boys soccer, girl's golf
Michael Asplund spent his first two hours in Indianapolis on Saturday hanging out in a mall.
The last two he was just trying to stay upright when severe leg issues threatened to end his three-set battle against one of the top players in the state.
The Bloomington South boys' tennis team knew it had a tough day ahead in Carmel, first taking on Noblesville, then the top-ranked Greyhounds. South beat the Millers 3-2 in the rain-soaked opener after that match got started two hours late thanks to a passing shower during the Carmel-Noblesville match.
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The weather ended up pushing South's nightcap inside to the Indianapolis Racquet Club courts where an impatient Asplund, playing No. 1 singles, lost the first set to his Carmel counterpart before storming back, then leading the third, 3-0. The last four games were anything but a stroll in the mall as a minor cramp in his calf turned into a locked up quad muscle.
Barely able to move and unable to serve normally, he persevered and pulled out the match, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 to give South it's lone point against Carmel.
"It was a pretty amazing moment from the standpoint he's put so much time in and so much work into his game," South coach Matt Corry said. "But there have been multiple times where injuries have happened. Saturday, he faced the adversity and made the adjustments he needed to. I think he proved to himself he's got the game. This is just the beginning of the season and I hope it breeds some confidence. It was a big moment for our program."
Asplund was facing a big hitter, pushing 120 mph on his serves, Corry said, so he had to start picking his spots instead of just fighting fire with fire..
"The other guy was a pretty consistent player," Corry said. "So in the second set, he had to settle down and hit the right shot with the right ball and you have the results he had the last two sets."
But it wasn't that easy. He was up 3-0 and down love-30, fighting that cramp in his leg when his quad locked up. South took a medical timeout, giving Asplund time to down fluids and Corry turned the decision to continue over to the family. "They know him best," Corry said.
Asplund got back up and went back to receive serve. "Mike smacked a winner without being able to take a step," Corry said. "Guy serves again, Mike smacks another forehand winner and gets the game.
"He knows he can't push off, so he underhand serves and wins the next four points to go up 5-0. The guy rallies to win a game but Mike is able to clinch it and beat the No. 1 guy on the No. 1 team in the state, which was huge."
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South lost 4-1, but gave a good accounting of itself at the other four spots as well, with Chris Lian going down in three sets over nearly three hours at No. 2 singles and the top doubles team falling 6-2, 6-4.
"I was proud of how we competed," Corry said. "We had three freshmen out there and Evan (Kantor) back from a year off at No. 3 singles. It was a tough match. Their player was rocking. But I was seeing the blue-collar grit I was hoping my guys might have."
South was slated to play No. 12 Floyd Central on Tuesday.
North boys' soccer wins Washington Invite
The Bloomington North boys' soccer team went from down 2-0 with 30 minutes left in the semifinals to champions of the Washington Hatchet Invitational on Saturday.
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The Cougars were still unable to find the net coming off a rough 6-0 loss to No. 12 Columbus North in its Conference Indiana opener last Thursday as Washington went up 1-0 by halftime, then 2-0 early in the second.
"Both goals came off easily avoidable mistakes," North coach Gonzalo Sanchez said. "No real breakdowns the other team created against us."
North had an answer this time as freshman Matt Ferguson, making his varsity debut at left wing, set up Russell Bilohlavek for his first goal 10 minutes later. Then, in a two-minute span, Bilohlavek assisted on a Broc Murphy goal to tie it and then took a feed from Noah Nelson to hit the game winner. Just to be sure, North added an insurance goal by Omaw Zaneer in a thrilling 4-2 win.
The final against Terre Haute North ended up 0-0 despite the Cougars controlling the run of play.
"We controlled 80% of the game and they only had a few opportunities in our half," Sanchez said. "Dylan (Stegemoller) ended the game with two saves in regular time. We weren’t able to finish the plays off of great build ups we had throughout the game so we ended 0-0 and we faced off in a shootout."
In the PKs, Stegemoller had two saves and goals by Nelson, Murphy, Joe Luther and Stefan Bartlett gave North a 4-2 edge.
Going low
Bloomington's two best girls' golfers, South's Melanie Southern and North's Darian Lafferty, are both turning in some impressive scorecards as the regular season reaches its midway point.
Lafferty is coming off a 76, good for ninth place in the Franklin Invitational at The Legends. That's a big deal as it is the new regional home for the teams and individuals coming out of the Bloomington North Sectional in mid-September. She followed that up with a 41 on the Pine at Cascades in a tough 196-198 loss to Martinsville.
Across town and down US 231 in Jasper, Southern carded a 77 to win the Jasper Invitational at Buffalo Trace by four shots. She came back to tour Stone Crest in an even par 35 in a match vs. Eastern Greene. Earlier in the season, she had an 81 at Otter Creek for third in a tourney hosted by Columbus East.
Darian Lafferty - 76, 9th place
Ivy Yoder - 106
Mallory Barrow - 119
Anna Toohill - 123
9 hole match with Martinsville on the Pine
Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com or follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington South boys tennis, North boys soccer, girls' golf
