North Central boys tennis back on top: 'It’s pretty special to help bring it home.'

The North Central boys tennis team was accustomed to adversity this season. Due to construction at the school, practices were moved to Park Tudor, where the Panthers would get on the courts after Park Tudor finished from about 6 to 8 p.m. every night.

“We were fighting off the darkness every night, trying to get there as soon as their practice was ending so we weren’t in (Park Tudor’s) way and getting our stuff done,” said North Central coach Lucas Waak, a former assistant who took over in July when Dan Brunette was hired at Carmel to coach the boys and girls teams. “It was a hurdle. But we talked from the beginning that it was going to make us tougher and put a chip on our shoulder.”

The ability to battle adversity came in handy in the IHSAA state championship Saturday at Carmel High School. North Central’s challenge, after knocking off Center Grove in the morning state semifinal, 3-2, would be significant. Top-ranked Harrison (West Lafayette), was 27-0 going into the championship match and its Nos. 1, 2 and 3 singles players were all undefeated.

Waak knew his team had an advantage in in both doubles matches and Harrison a likely victory in No. 3 singles. The state championship likely hinged on the No. 1 singles matchup between Harrison’s Aaron Gu and North Central’s Maurquis Willingham and No. 2 singles, where North Central’s Alex Antonopoulos squared off with Harrison’s Isaac Flannery.

“I had a lot of confidence in both doubles matches,” Antonopoulos said. “I had a feeling it was going to me and the court right next to me, Maurquis. It was four great players going at it.”

Sure enough, North Central took care of both doubles matches in short order. Akshay Guttikonda and Owen Larrimer defeated Harrison’s Emerson Mohr and Daniel Zhang (6-3, 6-1) in No. 1 doubles. North Central’s No. 2 doubles team of Tyler Dooley and Ronit Jha won (6-1, 6-1) over Harrison’s Henry Graham and Jonny Guerra. Harrison’s Landon Mohr defeated North Central’s Uriah Khoury (6-0, 6-0) in No. 3 singles.

Only two of the middle courts remained active with North Central only needing to win one. Advantage: North Central. “When you have Maurquis and Alex anchoring at the top, it’s hard to beat them in any match that you play,” Waak said. “We knew going into the season that we had No. 1 singles players.”

Willingham, a senior, battled Harrison's Gu in the first set, losing 6-4. After Gu took the second set, 6-3, Willingham turned his attention to the court next to him, where Antonopoulos was trying to put the finishing touches on his match with Harrison’s Isaac Flanery. A few minutes later, the North Central junior defeated Flanery (6-0, 7-5). Antonopoulos raised his hands in the air, then covered his face as he walked to the net.

The first player there to greet him? Willingham. Moments after losing his own individual match, he celebrated a state championship with Antonopoulos with an embrace.

“It’s quite surreal,” Willingham said. “Even though it didn’t turn out personally the way I hoped it would turn out, it’s way better winning state as a team, in my opinion, than as individuals. It’s for our school. We’re winning it for multiple people, so just being able to win this is incredible.”

North Central, despite its tennis pedigree of now 21 state championships going back to its first in 1976, was an underdog this season. The Panthers (20-4) were ranked No. 8 in the final regular season poll and were coming off losses to sixth-ranked Park Tudor and No. 3 Zionsville going into the sectional. But North Central knocked off No. 14 Cathedral 5-0 in the sectional championship, then took out No. 5 Hamilton Southeastern 3-2 and Heritage Christian 4-1 in the regional and No. 18 Goshen 4-1 in the semistate.

In Friday’s quarterfinal at Center Grove, North Central avenged the loss to Zionsville, 3-2, with Willingham and Antonopoulos winning in singles and Guttikonda and Larrimer winning in three sets in No. 1 doubles. In Saturday morning’s 3-2 win over No. 7 Center Grove, North Central won those same three matchups.

After reaching the state championship, Waak felt good about his team’s chances.

“I’ve been around these guys for the last six years and my first year as head coach,” Waak said. “But the nice thing was they all knew me. They knew my style, my intensity, my enthusiasm. The main thing I wanted for them is someone they could trust. I wanted the best for these kids and was probably a little protective of this team. It was a pretty easy transition because of the relationship we’ve built together.”

About 90 minutes after it was over and the crowd had left Carmel, the North Central bus was the last vehicle in the parking lot. Waak was the last one to board, yelling “Let’s go!” as he did.

“But bringing a state championship back to North Central — it feels like that’s where it supposed to be,” he said. “When you think of Indiana tennis, North Central is one of the first names on the list. It’s pretty special to help bring it home.”

>> Harrison's Aaron Gu was named the Mental Attitude Award winner. The Raiders' No. 1 singles player is headed to the U.S. Naval Academy.

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana high school boys tennis: North Central wins state championship