Powerful Indians roll to another tennis sectional crown

The Saint Joseph girls tennis team found itself in a familiar spot again Thursday night.

Posing for a team photo with yet another sectional championship trophy in hand.

The No. 5 Indians rolled to convincing wins to claim the program's 14th straight sectional title.

Saint Joseph beat Washington 5-0 in the semifinals and downed Riley 5-0 in the title match of their own sectional contested at Leeper Park.

► More: Notes: 'I still get emotional.' Cancer tournament special to South Bend Clay softball coach

► More: Saint Joseph's Molly Bellia a true team player as leader of Indians' tennis

The sectional semifinals were postponed Wednesday night due to rain so both the semifinals and the finale were played Thursday evening.

Saint Joseph, now 14-1-1, advances to face the Penn Sectional winner in the semifinals of the LaPorte Regional Tuesday night at Kesling Park. Penn will face Marian Friday in the title match of the Penn Sectional.

Coach Bill Mountford's Indians, who were state runner-up a year ago, will likely face rival Penn once again in the regional round. The No. 14 Kingsmen were shooting for the program's 15th straight sectional title Friday. Saint Joseph beat Penn in last year's regional final and topped the Kingsmen 4-1 in an NIC regular season match last month at Penn.

"We are excited to play our rival next Tuesday in LaPorte," said Mountford of the likely match versus the Kingsmen once again. "We had a tough battle with them a few weeks back but now both of our lineups are different so it will be a challenge to play them again."

Star sophomore Molly Bellia led the way for the champion Indians. The southpaw won both her matches by 6-0, 6-0 finals. Bellia, who went 25-0 a year ago in winning the No. 1 singles state title, has lost just once this season.

The Indians, whose lone loss this season was to No. 1 Carmel 3-2, also got 6-0, 6-0 wins in both matches from their No. 1 doubles team of sisters Ashi and Anni Amalnathan. Sophomore Ashi played No. 2 singles earlier this season before being moved to the top doubles spot with her freshman sister.

Penn topped Adams and Marian beat Mishawaka, both by 5-0 finals, in semifinal play at Penn Thursday night.

Penn was set to face the Knights in the title match Friday at 4:30 p.m.

LaPorte beat Michigan City 5-0 and New Prairie 5-0 to win its own sectional title Thursday night. The Slicers advance to play in the LaPorte Regional Tuesday versus the winner of the Valparaiso Sectional. Valparaiso plays Chesterton Friday for the title of the Valparaiso Sectional.

NorthWood and Fairfield were semifinals winners at the NorthWood Sectional. The pair will meet in the finale Friday in Nappanee.

Concord and Elkhart each claimed semifinal wins in the Concord Sectional. The two will meet in the final on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Concord. The match will be moved to the Eastlake Athletic Club in the event of inclement weather.

Plymouth beat Glenn in the opener of the Bremen Sectional. Plymouth faces host Bremen and Triton takes on LaVille in semifinal play Friday with the title match set for Saturday. The sectional final is scheduled to be played at the indoor facility at Culver Academy at 11:30 a.m.

At Saint Joseph

Championship

SAINT JOSEPH 5, RILEY 0

SINGLES: 1. Molly Bellia beat Emma Richard 6-0, 6-0. 2. Maggie Nguyen beat Tiffany Schmok 6-2, 6-4. 3. Lily Mayfield beat Audrey Myers 6-1, 6-0.

DOUBLES: 1. Ashi Amalnathan-Anni Amalnathan beat Alaina DeLater-Katie Walkowski 6-0, 6-0. 2. Dani Graham-Gracie Velasco beat Malorie Freitag-Evelyn Ringer 6-0, 6-0.

Semifinals

SAINT JOSEPH 5, WASHINGTON 0

SINGLES: 1. Molly Bellia beat LeeAna Hudson 6-0, 6-0. 2. Maggie Nguyen beat Honestie Tobar 6-0, 6-0. 3. Lily Mayfield won by forfeit.

DOUBLES: 1. Ashi Amalnathan-Anni Amalnathan beat Skylar Fultz-McKinzie Graham 6-0, 6-0. 2. Dani Graham-Gracie Velasco won by forfeit.

RILEY 5, CLAY 0

SINGLES: 1. Emma Richard beat Sariah Barnes 7-5, 6-3. 2. Tiffany Schmok beat Alexa Hunt 6-3, 6-4. 3. Audrey Myers beat Peyton Shrader 6-2, 6-3.

DOUBLES: 1. Alaina DeLater-Katie Walkowski beat Sharon Moss-Jasmine Daly 6-0, 6-4. 2. Malorie Freitag-Evelyn Ringer beat Anna Tucker-Jennifer Lopez 6-0, 6-2.

At Penn

PENN 5, ADAMS 0

SINGLES: Aileen Hu beat Lia Gosselin 6-0, 6-1. 2. Sophia Pischalko beat Anna Moss 6-0, 6-1. 3.  Anna Yoon beat Gracie Fourman  6-1, 6-4.

DOUBLES: 1. Jamie Hurst-Mandy Baker beat Kyara Soria-Brooke Rohr 6-1, 6-0. 2. Neely Langfeldt-Maren Woelfer beat Greta Neubauer-Claire Scheffler 6-0, 6-3

MARIAN 5, MISHAWAKA 0

SINGLES: 1.  Abigail Weaver beat Kylie Creech 6-0, 6-3. 2.  Elizabeth Rhee beat Olivia Fielding 6-0, 6-1. 3.  Allison Dew beat Emily Eggleston 7-6 (5), 6-4.

DOUBLES: 1. Maura Meyers-Avery Sharp beat Grace Selesky-Isabelle Santa 6-0, 6-2. 2. Luci Tinervia-Lauren Toepp beat Ava Raker-Carmen Ramirez 6-7 (9), 6-2, 6-3.

At Bremen

PLYMOUTH 5, JOHN GLENN 0

SINGLES: 1. Aubrey Vervynckt beat Jessica Yelaska 6-0, 6-1. 2. Bella Kain beat Olivia Norem 6-0, 6-0. 3. Morgan Langfeldt beat Kelsey Yelaska 6-1, 6-1.

DOUBLES: 1. Taylor Delp-Ellie Jones beat Jessica Wilk-Megan Kobelt 6-0, 6-2. 2. Cassidy Riddle-Annie Plothow beat Isabel Sophie McLochlin-Hailey Harness 6-0, 6-0.

At NorthWood

NORTHWOOD 5, BETHANY CHRISTIAN 0

SINGLES: Gabriella Umbower beat Reyna King 6-1, 6-0. 2. Britton Jesse beat Julia Moser 6-1, 6-3. 3. Tatum Evers beat Zoe Willems 6-3, 7-6 (5).

DOUBLES: 1. Emery Porter-Amy Adams beat Morgan Chupp-Alina Bergstresser 6-1, 6-0. 2. Kaydence Dumka-Maddy Birk beat Allyson Barkman-Joryn Yoder 6-1, 6-1.

FAIRFIELD 5, GOSHEN 0

SINGLES: 1. Addison Mast beat Mara Schrock 6-0, 6-0. 2. Faith Bontrager beat Sarah Harmelink 6-2. 6-0. 3. Elyse Yoder beat Morgan Priebe 6-0, 6-0.

DOUBLES: 1. Abigail Gall-Ella Brenneman beat Tori Barkey-Mireya Benitez 6-0, 3-6, 7-6 (3). 2. Iris Miller-Kate McGuire beat Abril Diaz-Naomi Kratzer 6-2, 6-2.

At Concord

CONCORD 3, NORTHRIDGE 2

SINGLES: 1. Lilah Dean (N) beat Claire Steele 6-1, 6-1. 2. Saige Wheatley (N) beat Esther Williams 6-2, 6-0. 3. Landry Schrock (C) beat Olivia Gayler 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.

DOUBLES: 1. Kate Steele-Gracie Westlake (C) beat Whitley Judd-Morgan Mack 6-3, 6-2. 2. Maggie Burkert-Addison May (C) beat Jaycie Cress-Viola Tavernini 6-3, 6-1.

ELKHART 5, JIMTOWN 0

SINGLES: 1. Adley Keim beat Senica Zartman 6-1, 6-0. 2. Jillian Hayward beat Caitlyn Isenbarger 6-0, 6-0. 3. Elise Walker beat Alyssa Aldridge 6-2, 6-0.

DOUBLES: 1. Jessica Dibley-Abby Wolschlager beat Eliyahna Brothers-Abigail Sanders 6-0, 6-1. 2. Charlotte Myers-Raelee Pelletier beat Natalie Butler-Audrey Kinnison 6-0, 6-2.

At LaPorte

Championship

LAPORTE 5, NEW PRAIRIE 0

SINGLES: 1. Brooklyn James beat Samantha Budny 6-0, 6-1. 2. Emily Siefker beat Eliza Roberts 7-6 (4), 6-0. 3. Haleigh Miller beat Natalie Yacullo 6-2, 6-1.

DOUBLES: 1. Macy Mrozinski-Katelyn Friis beat Helaina Kuntz-Makayla Karnes 6-4, 6-2. 2. Addison James-Michaela Miller beat Taylor Nelson-Reghan Romstadt 6-3, 6-0.

Semifinals

LAPORTE 5, MICHIGAN CITY 0

SINGLES: 1. Brooklyn James beat Heather Lewis 6-0, 6-0. 2. Emily Siefker beat Thalia Karallas 6-0, 6-0. 3. Haleigh Miller beat Madelyn Shinn 6-1, 6-4.

DOUBLES: 1. Macy Mrozinski-Katelyn Friis beat Jullian Ewy-Eden Jasicki 6-1, 6-0. 2. Addison James-Michaela Miller beat Charlotte Bartlett-Sela Van Buskirk 6-4, 5-7, 7-5.

NEW PRAIRIE 4, MICHIGAN CITY MARQUETTE 1

SINGLES: 1. Kinga Obeowska (M) beat Macarena Fedriana 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. 2. Eliza Roberts beat Bella Jiang 6-1, 6-0. 3. Natalie Yacullo beat Alyse Thomas 6-0, 6-0.

DOUBLES: 1. Helaina Kuntz-Makayla Karnes beat Elizabeth Bahena-Alex Shoppa 6-0, 6-0. 2. Taylor Nelson-Reghan Romstadt beat Paloma Valdes-Morgane Jonas 6-0, 6-0.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Saint Joseph girls tennis claims sectional championship